Posted on 11/05/2010 11:35:02 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
(VIDEO AT LINK)
From Morton Kondracke: “The people who got slapped the hardest in this election — besides Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama — are Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin. Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin are responsible for the fact that the Senate did not go Republican. They’re the ones who are responsible for Christine O’Donnell. They’re the ones who are responsible for Joe Miller in Alaska. They’re the ones who are responsible for Ken Buck in Colorado. They’re the ones who are responsible for Sharron Angle in Nevada.”
Republicans picked up 6 seats. That was their best showing in 18 years.
And Kondracke is whining about it?
First he is math challenged.
Republicans needed 10 more seats on Tuesday. They picked up 6. He blamed Palin and DeMint for not taking 3 more. That would have left them 1 shy.
Apparently Morton Kondracke is under the impression that Democrat Scott McAdams will win in Alaska. Foolish. Scott McAdams conceded. It is between Republican Miller and Republican incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski. So there is no loss there.
Yes, Christine O’Donnell ruined the chance for a pickup in Delaware. That would have been Seat No. 7.
In Colorado, Ken Buck upset Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton to face incumbent Senator Michael Bennet. The only outside force that could have tripped Ken Buck was Tom Tancredo’s third-party run for governor. It was a case in that Senate race of a weak state party, good candidate. I really think that is a stretch by a mile to blame Palin or DeMint cost anyone anything in Colorado.
As far as Nevada goes, Sue Lowden was a good candidate (Danny Tarkanian could not get elected to the state Senate) but she still would have faced the president, the SEIU and the powers of the sitting Senate Majority Leader. I said all along, Reid would pull this off. Reid won by 5. I don’t see Lowden doing much better than that.
Left out of teh equation is Rand Paul. Despite people like Morton Kondracke calling the man crazy, Doctor Paul took Kentucky by 12 points.
To put that in perspective, moderate Mitch McConnell won Kentucky by 6 points in 2008 — a state McCain/PALIN took by 16 points.
Moderate Jim Bunning won by 2 points in 2004 on the coattails of a 20-point win by President Bush.
Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin did not cost Republicans Connecticut or Washington state or West Virginia or California. Winning those 4 would have given Republicans the Senate. Who do we blame for that? John Cornyn?
It is foolish to be looking at the cup as empty when it is three-quarters full.
The rest of Morton Kondracke’s analysis has some merit. Palin quitting her job as governor of Alaska will remain an albatross. There is a reason her pony appears to be 7 points behind Lisa Murkowski in Alaska.
What disturbs me about Morton Kondracke is that he is ignoring the elephant in the House:
That is the big news. Republicans had their best mid-term in 72 years and took back the House. The inability of a Washington pundit to see what is in front of him greatly amuses me.
Does anyone recall a single pundit, pollster, or analyst who said before Tuesday that the Republicans had a chance to take over the Senate? Seven or eight seats was the top I heard. If the Delaware, Colorado, and Nevada races had gone the other way, we still wouldn’t have taken over the Senate.
As for Trent Lott and Lindsay Graham, the two together couldn’t take over a Brownie troop.
Does anyone recall a single pundit, pollster, or analyst who said before Tuesday that the Republicans had a chance to take over the Senate? Seven or eight seats was the top I heard. If the Delaware, Colorado, and Nevada races had gone the other way, we still wouldn’t have taken over the Senate.
As for Trent Lott and Lindsay Graham, the two together couldn’t take over a Brownie troop.
Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin are a big part of why we almost took over the Senate. Good grief!
They were both out there humping. Too bad the RNC couldn’t have helped more with O’Donnell and a few others. I guess that would have been to much to ask.
To start with Miller hasn't lost to Murcowsh** yet, all the ballots have not been counted. Secondly, the dimwits crossed over to write in ballots for lisa and has nothing to do with Sarah and does not reflect badly on her. Lastly, even if, somehow, you could blame a potential loss(which hasn't occurred yet)on Palin, then you are going to have to credit her with the 1000 democrats who lost their seats across the nation both locally, state wide and in the fed. Those credits would far outweigh any negative she would get from Alaska.
I will bet Miller wins after all the write ins and absentee ballots are counted. There is no way Murcowsh**'s name is on all the write ins, or even 80%.
All of the above.
For example, if Castle had been elected and voted YES on the "Dream Act," Reid could allow a shaky Dem to vote NO, plus it would be "bipartisan."
Normally I dont like FNC BoR but yesterday he was talking about how he won 5K from Laura Ingraham betting that CO'D would lose. He said that his staff looked at the CO'D campaign early on and came to the conclusion that the way it was being run it couldnt win. He said that is why her other possible campaign funding sources dried up, she was a bad gamble. Otherwise he said he liked her and had nothing against her. I really think she was a longshot.
While I wasnt watching that campaign closely (I liked the Taxman ad) that was my criticism of the early Angle campaign, not getting a strong message out. But Angle ended up running a good strong campaign.
Mort is an unreconstructed liberal and a pretty stupid one at that. I view his appearance on FOX as a comic relief.
I’m not going to argue the point on O’Donnell. You’ve got some room to go somewhat negative on her. I think that’s fair at this point.
Still, if the RNC did have resources, it’s pointless to trash her and hold up on funds. We pulled a lot of races out of the drink this election.
At this point we honestly don’t know what a full court press would have garnered us. Perhaps nothing, as you have mentioned. And perhaps a lot more with a fire in the belly support.
This wasn’t that far off from W., D. C. Did we get plenty of big names in there to support O’Donnell?
I watch when we run people here in California, and we might just as well be in Bangladesh for all the support the RNC provides.
We can’t sit on our hands as a group, and then say so and so didn’t have a chance. I still say we don’t know if she actually had a chance.
Once again, the left pulls out all the stops, and the RNC puts a cork in it. Who wins in that scenario? Who else but the Leftist.
With the Senate majority on the line, it just seems like the RNC didn’t have the juevos to stand up and be counted, at the very least in this case.
I recognize that you see it differently. That’s okay. I’m not 100% sold on O’Donnell being that rabid a Conservative too. Still, what I saw of her, she sounded very good. Of course she may have been not so good over all. I was only seeing bits and pieces, where folks in the state were privy to a lot I wasn’t.
Out here I wasn’t impressed with either Whitman or Fiorina, so I know how it is if there just isn’t the enthusiasm for some people.
LOL!
Ya really think so??
I don't think I commented on that either way(or was it even what I repeated from BoR.) I just think that a near miracle would have to happen for her to win that seat, especially in DE. And she made some mistakes on top of it. I haven't tried to imagine what would happen if she won, it would just be wasted brain cell firings.
She came off as a pleasant enough person. But the fact that she felt like she had to start out her first ad with "I am not a witch" was a sign she was in trouble before she started.
Word has it Pelosi is staying makes my day, Obama is in real trouble.
I don't think I commented on that either way(or was it even what I repeated from BoR.) I just think that a near miracle would have to happen for her to win that seat, especially in DE. And she made some mistakes on top of it. I haven't tried to imagine what would happen if she won, it would just be wasted brain cell firings.
She came off as a pleasant enough person. But the fact that she felt like she had to start out her first ad with "I am not a witch" was a sign she was in trouble before she started.
Word has it Pelosi is staying makes my day, Obama is in real trouble.
Sorry, wasn’t trying to put words in your mouth. I just take it for granted that you’re not that impressed with her on Conservative grounds, accurately or not.
While I do think that Deleware being in a region thought of to be rather liberal, the New England region did see some movement ideologically this go-round.
I don’t think it’s all that irrational to think O’Donnell could have had a chance to go farther with the full backing of the party leadership.
You are of course correct, the issue of her having to explain away the witch issue. Still, I kind of laugh at the thought this was relevant any longer. She was an idiot kid. This is the desperation the Left sunk to, trying to discredit her. I can understand that. What’s the RNC and Carl Rove’s excuse?
A consummate Lefty gets the nomination, and these two entities crawl onto every talking head show they can to utter words of adoration, and suggest we must back them with our very lives. Then someone wins that seems to share a lot of common ground with Conservatives, and they run like dogs with scalded tails.
Was that worth 9% of the vote? Arguably, it may have been. I know the other day I addressed the 17% deficit, but it would only take a 9% swing to pull it out.
Rove carries a lot of weight. He’s all the excuse a Democrat would need NOT TO consider jumping parties for one person.
Rove and the RNC should be ashamed of themselves.
I think we beat this one to death. You think Rove will support Mamma-grizzly ?
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