Posted on 11/07/2006 10:19:51 PM PST by Brian_Baldwin
Exactly, by all reports, turnout was good for the Republicans in most areas. The exit polls all indicate that the election was seen as a referendum on Iraq, and based on the perception that we were losing, voted to toss the bums out. Of course by doing they probably guaranteed that we will lose... possibly a city or three.
Graf ran in a liberal district and the National Republican party pulled out all support to him,it was pretty rotten.One could say either his loss was a statement that Arizona didn't care about illegals and amnesty,or they could say that a Republican with little money and no financial or moral support from National,hammered at by Dems,who saw he was vulnerable,was doomed by his own party.
Hayworth was totally identified with Bush although toward the end he seemed to be disengaging. And if I am not mistaken he only came to a get-tough position regards illegals somewhat late in the game. Prior to that the media crowed about his ties to Abramson and said he had received big bucks from him which I believe did a lot of damage. His ads at the end stated he had only received a small amount since 1999 and that amount was given to charity. Several people asked me what he had done before 1999 with Abramson and I didn't know.
He was also a very committed Christian and I am wondering if that was not what hurt him most.The Marriage Amendment seems to be going down which is really shocking and makes me sick and scared. He represents Tempe and parts of Scottsdale and there are many liberal elites in his district. I don't know if they redistricted or what happened because I was shocked to find he was my Congressman,maybe I've been sleeping.
But back to the climate vis a vis immigration and illegals in Arizona. All four propositions on the ballot that involved immigrants,legal and/or illegal demonstrated that the voters want a stop to the flow. English only won,no bail for illegals with a felony charge,no access to state supported services for non residents and no punitive damages for illegals involved in law suits all passed with comfortable ease.
So you can see that Arizonans are not averse to getting tough on illegal immigrants,or should I say being fair about them. I think the problem either involves Hayworth's Christianity or his support of Bush and the war in Iraq and has very little to do with immigration.
RE: THE FOUR THINGS!
You are absolutely spot on. We lost the voters because we got away from acting decisively based on our core beliefs.
Actually, I believe McCain was against the federal marriage ban, but he supported a proposal to change Arizona's state constitution to ban gay marriage. Rudy is very open to gay rights with the sole exception of calling gay civil unions "marriage".
Please do not misunderstand. I am NO fan of McCain whatsoever. Your point about Rudy's WOT stance is a good one and gives me pause about my initial response to the hypothetical of them being the two main primary choices.
By all reports, Republican turn out was good. Dem was better and they got a larger chunk of the independent or "middle of the road" vote.
And getting an even more incompetent one, as far as achieving any real conservative agenda, heck even American objectives.
There is that.
Oh Barf.
et tu, brute?
A major difference between Democrats and Republicans. Dems circle the wagons around their people. Republican eat their own.
Baker as Kissinger, who'd thunk it?
The only question is, can we slink out fast enough to avoid a complete cut off of funds for the pull out.
And one more, is there a helipad on the roof of the US embassy in Baghdad? (And in Kabul too!?). .... Pelosi is on Fox, saying that we need a change of direction in Iraq. Does anyone honestly believe she means sending in more troops, more air power, and blasting every "insurgent" stronghold into rubble? Don't think so.
"when the GOP realizes you people have drug them too far to the right"
What exactly do you mean, "too far to the right."
Do you think we should not be pro-life? Do you think we should ban semi-auto weapons and hi-cap magazines?
I genuinely want to know...I'm curious as to how far your branch of the GOP and I are.
Ed
Which Pelosi and Harry Reid aren't going to allow.
Although I disagree with part of your basic thesis that it's now just an Occupation and reconstruction. Those going OK to very well. But the jihadies have done enough to allow the MSM to give us another Tet.
No, I think we didn't need a special Senate session to deal with Terri Schaivo, to mention one thing, for starters.
They pandered way to much to the extremes in this party.
A few weeks ago when Bush sat down for some Ramadan chow FOR THE SIXTH STRAIGHT STINKING YEAR, with moslems while we were losing 100 men in one month... THAT was it.
People realized that Kinder Gentler Compassionate KGC warfighting was indeed going to last many many years because our own President continued to insist that islam was a religion that deserved to be honored...
"...we welcome and honor the Muslim faith in our nation. Our society is enriched by our Muslim citizens."
Thats when the bullshiite meter pegged and the American people decided enough was enough.
Good article.
I work in the Defense Industry. Have my whole career since Grad school which was after my active duty time (after which I was a Reservist, then a Guardsman, and then a Reservist again). I'll be losing my job, (again BTW, I also got Clintonsized in '98) well before the next attack, unless it comes sooner than I anticipate.
Just yesterday now (7th) we had a briefing by the Commanding General of the command I support. Before all this, they were to lose 5% of their civilian slots, and 10% of their direct support contractor slots. Plus a good sized cut in developement contracts. They'd already lost more military slots than that over the last year or two.
I shudder for the future, both mine and my country's.
Gato, who do you think will lead the GOP in '08? who do you want?
WHO do you think will be the new leader of the GOP?
DING-DING-DING, lock the thread, we have an early winner. Thanks for speaking truth to idiocy, Howlin.
Is it too late to say that we may have a new definition of RINO, too? So-called Republicans have cut off the country's nose to spite its face, and will have to bear the awful consequences with the rest of us.
I hope President Bush and Vice President Cheney aren't found within ten miles of each other in the next two years. Freedom can't take a chance on succession...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.