Posted on 05/14/2008 6:19:23 AM PDT by Obadiah
In a major blow to national Republicans, a Mississippi congressional seat that once voted for President Bush by a twenty-five point margin elected a Democrat on Tuesday. Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers beat out Republican candidate Greg Davis, the mayor of Southaven, by a 54%-46% margin, a spread that several Republican strategists on Capitol Hill characterized as a startling wake-up call for a party in dire straits.
Voters cast ballots for the fourth time in three months for the seat, vacated when Republican Roger Wicker was appointed to fill the remainder of Senator Trent Lott's term. After winning the primary and the runoff election, Childers came within 410 votes of winning the first round of the special election against Davis on April 22, beating the Republican by a 49%-46% margin.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
It’s a very hard message. You think people who are convinced things are bad will vote for someone who explains how wrong they are?
It can be done, but it has to be done with subtlety and a bit of subterfuge.
Which won’t work in this election, because conservatives are so tired of being lied to that they will not believe anybody who isn’t out hitting people over the head with a 2x4 saying what we want to hear.
In other words, because the Repblican party has burned us in the past, we won’t accept any wink-nod to our side, but that’s what would be needed to win the election.
The only other hope was to pick candidates who could clearly and enthusiastically articulate the conservative point of view, in a way that interested people.
The presidential primary showed that, if we have anybody like that, they aren’t running for office.
And as a case in point as to how hard it is for a conservative, three months ago Governor Jindal of Louisiana was the 2nd coming of Reagan. People wanted him on the ticket, people wanted him as President.
Now, he’s called names daily, called a RINO and a backstabber, called a sellout. His name is mud among conservatives.
We are a tough group to please.
“....i.e. didn’t like him”
I really don’t care whether or not I personally like Tom Delay....anybody “like” James Carville?!!”
Politics is a barroom brawl...complete with the broken bottles and worse. It IS NOT a country club golf match...no matter how hard the RINOS want to try to make it into one. If you are going to carelessly throw around other peoples money...bad things happen unless you’re enough of a thug to make certain you get electoral returns for it in the end. These clowns literally threw away the leadership opportunities the American people gave them.
I totally agree. We were in a position to make a great, long term difference and our side caved when it didn't have to. Don't know how to be winners apparently. They kept throwing out their own allies over the least little accusations.
Yep, Republicans in DC will move further left as a result of Mississippi, as I predicted.
From NBC’s Mike Viqueira
Lots of very glum faces among House GOP members this morning as they emerged from their weekly closed-door session. The political situation is not good, and they aren’t even trying to deny it.
Rep. Tom Davis stomped on the concrete floor of the Capitol basement when asked by reporters about Republican fortunes at the moment.
“This is the floor,” he said, by way of explanation. “We’re below the floor.”
Inside the meeting, Davis had just presented his colleagues with what he said was a 20-page memo outlining his prescription for a way out of this mess. He did not offer details to the press, yet did not spare the party and the president scathing criticism in his public comments.
“The president swallows the microphone every time he opens his mouth,” Davis said.
He believes Bush’s staunch opposition to the Democratic housing bill and the SCHIP bill, for example, is hurting rank and file. Look at yesterday’s vote on the SPRO, where Republicans defied the president in droves. Lo and behold, the White House says today that it will not veto the bill.
Today is also the day when the House takes up the farm bill, which the president has promised to veto. It’s expected that this will become the second veto of Bush’s administration to be overridden — though the farm bill has more of a parochial dynamic than the national political one.
Asked if he thought there should be a change in House GOP leadership, he brought up the 2006 election and the loss of Congress, then wondered aloud why, when “the plane is being flown into the mountain,” there has been no change in direction.
A major target of internal GOP criticism is Rep. Tom Cole, who runs the House campaign arm of the party. He emerged to tell reporters that there is “concern” within the party, yes, but, looking for a silver lining, he pointed out that John McCain is running far ahead of the generic GOP approval rating. He then spoke of the need to “re-brand” the party in the likeness of McCain, which may be a tall order, since many rank-and-file conservatives have reviled McCain for years for his transgressions against party orthodoxy.
The parlance of marketing has, of course, overrun the business of politics (and news media), and here again Cole spoke of the unpopularity of the GOP “brand.” He says, as does House GOP No. 2 Roy Blunt, that the Democratic candidate yesterday in Mississippi, Travis Childers, is pro life and pro gun.
“Both candidates ran for what Republicans are for,” Blunt pointed out. That leaves open the question of why the Democrat won the race. The “brand” is the most common explanation.
House GOP leaders huddle at 11 a.m. today. That will be watched closely for any possibility of a coup or insurrection against leadership in the wake of this third consecutive loss of a GOP seat.
I am not saying to not work within the party. I am saying it's not enough to move the party.
It is pretty obvious to all but the most obtuse, that the agenda today is controlled by left wing groups nominally outside the Democratic party. Conservatives(except for possibly the NRA) have not effectively countered these groups - so we do not set the agenda - even in the Republican party.
And hey, if the ChiComs and Cuba are doing something, it must be good?
We need to get off oil somehow, screw the Arabs, screw Chavez, and screw the ChiComs.
Tom Cole needs to go. Now.
We did a great job during the fight over amnesty. We made a difference. It could happen again if we could stay fired up.
In economics, civics, history, politics, etc.
That is a VERY good idea - and one which can fit right in with the viral campaign idea I have for this. Let's face it, when you try to convince somebody about something - anything - who are you more likely to convince, some stranger on an internet forum somewhere, or a personal acquaintance who knows you, generally trusts you to give them right information, and so forth? the problem is - this sort of thing would take a time investment that I'm afraid a lot of people wouldn't be willing to make. Can't take the time to engage in an email correspondence with a cousin or brother-in-law about why we need to lower taxes when we're too busy taking the kid to Little League, right? Too many conservatives are not willing to make ANY sort of sacrifice of their personal time for anything other than their family or church (and I certainly am NOT disparaging those institutions!)
Yes Aria, we did an excellent job.
BUT, but, but, what happened when we were faced with a primary choice...........we went with the most pro illegal candidate???????????????????????
This shows me we are very small in number.
I really haven’t understood how we ended up with McCain - he sure wasn’t my choice but I never had a chance to vote for my guy, Fred Thompson.
This was a serious loss. We are taking water everywhere.
The Rino slavemasters don't get it. People have to have something to vote for. Our side is in disrepute for a long war, a nasty economy, and no sense of positive direction.
We can blame the Democrat Congress until the cows come home, but you can see how effective that is.
The Republican Party is a jello version of the Democrats. McCain is the embodiment of Rinoism. Our side is at rock bottom for morale.
It is enormously powerful, and changes the course of policy and history. Quickly. Especially when the left has educators, Hollywood and all forms of news media in their pockets.
Fahrenheit 9/ll, Michael Moore
An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore
We laughed at their lies and idiocy, but they beat us, they destroyed Pres Bush, Iraq, and Al Gore just got the Polar Bear protected by the US Government, forever blocking energy endeavors.
I have thrown away so many begging letters from the Rs that It's not funny....
Gas prices started upward in 2004, and it was a miracle we held the White House and Congress. Blaming the current state of the economy on the Dems in Congress won't cut it. It will have no traction. It could be right, but voters won't buy it.
I got laid off a couple of months ago, at age 49. I can either go flip burgers for peanuts or go back to school and get a master's degree, which is what I'm doing. My wife has a terrific job as a nursing supervisor and she teaches for several colleges. I'm in a unique position. Many people aren't.
I was commuting 74 miles a day to my last job, and in heavy traffic. I got laid off just as gas prices exploded again.
I'm an optimist, believe it or not, but that isn't because of the Republican party. They have blown it big time, and we will be massacred in November. There's a chance McCain can beat Obama, but Hillary would pound him into sand. This electoral cycle is a complete disaster. It's 1932 again.
Note to the GOP:
1.) Seal the borders.
2.) Cut spending.
3.) Cut taxes
4.) Address social issues that your base cares about in a meaningful way: Life, homeschooling, marriage.
That is the exact narrow agenda that got the GOP in the fix it’s in along with unconditional support for Bush and the Iraq war. The turning point was Terri Schiavo. It’s been downhill sledding ever since.
I swear they are brain dead!!!
The very idea of 'rebranding' the party in the likeness of McCain makes me want to throw up.
They annointed the creep & now they're stuck with him...but inviting all of us to join them on this sinking ship is more than I can stomach.
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