Posted on 06/10/2010 12:39:39 AM PDT by Michael van der Galien
This week’s primary races, in which grassroots conservative candidates had a strong showing, suggest that the political energy is on the Republican side. Yet it is too soon to predict that 2010 will be a replay of 1994, when a voter backlash helped Republicans recapture control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. Consider the May 18th showdown for John Murtha’s vacated congressional seat, which was disappointing for Republicans. In some polls, Tim Burns had been ahead of Mark Critz, and Critz’s 7 point win was bound to provoke a good deal of agonized post mortem analysis. But a crucial and sobering fact eluded everybody: PA12 showed that the decisive factor in the big GOP congressional gains of 1994 is missing this year, and will remain so until the party does something to remedy that.
Rush Limbaugh tried to cheer Republicans up by pointing to the 2 to 1 Democrat registration edge in the district, and assured them that they don’t need to win 2 to 1 districts to still win big in November. But John MCain beat Obama in that district in 2008—where shall Republicans be in the fall if they can’t hold what McCain held while Obama was winning the election? Another argument from Rush was that Critz had run like a Republican, but that one ought not to have appealed to a man who has been saying for years (correctly) that if people are given a choice between a quasi-Democrat (i.e., a liberal Republican) and a Democrat, they’ll naturally opt for the real thing. Burns was the real thing here, but that didn’t help him.
(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...
The Republicans are directionless.
Which is sad considering the political environment.
“I’m not a Democrat” seems pretty appealing these days.
No, No, No! It’s not “contract with America,” it’s ‘contract ON America!’
We have a contract called the constitution.
...and before that, we had the federal Constitution in addition to the individual state ones.
Good article. I live in Pa-12 much to my dismay. Murtha has a Kennedyesque appeal to the Democrats here. Critz ran ads basically calling himself Murtha’s protege and I remember thinking that was a dumb move. After all, Murtha insulted the voters here and had years of taint from various scandals. But no, apparently that strategy paid off handsomely. That, and the fact that Bill Russell should have been the contender.
The Country is a Mess and this should be a No Brainer for The Right this November ,BUT you have to have something to vote for ,so I agree there is no Leader providing a Single Idea to rally around and there are dozens to choose from.
The major issue that enraged everyone Health care could be the One,Forced purchase ,loosing the Care you have skyrocketing costs,how about the total Fraud in the white House ,or how about just lumping them all together,FOLKS HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE GENERATION THAT CRAPPED ON ALL OUR FOREFATHERS THAT SACRIFICED FOR OUR FREEDOM SO WE COULD ABDICATE IT TO A KENYAN COMMUNIST AND A POLITICAL PARTY THAT HAS TOTAL CONTEMPT FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE A BUNCH OF SUCKERS
It IS appealing - until you consider the alternative.
The People just got finished kicking the Republicans out. And yet, here they are, back in line, saying, basically, "Miss us yet?".
What they haven't copped on to is that the answer to "Miss us yet?" is, "Hell, no - we don't - and unless you've changed, stay off the damn porch!"
Although the Republicans have lost, they haven't yet changed. They are still big spenders, still at least agnostic on the Constitution if not outright enemies, and still pandering to Jesusland voters without any evidence of actual faith.
This is, to say the least, not a formula for sweeping change.
In 1994, the new GOP majority included at least some real pro-Constitution radicals. Such people are as unwelcome today in GOP councils as they are in the Obamunist Party.
The electorate is ripe for change. Power is lying on the ground.
Who will pick it up?
So out of many dozen key elections and primaries, the incumbants have been throttled and outsiders rising up with huge voter support. Candidates endorsed by the tea party, club for growth And Gov Palin are rocketing to wins. Yet the naysayers keep bringing up the lone exception to the national trend: PA-12.
The Republicans are directionless.
The Republicans are leaderless.
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