Posted on 11/04/2008 5:32:04 AM PST by beagleone
For all of you worried about today's outcome, a history lesson: One of the greatest comebacks in world politics happened in 1996 when I was living in Israel. It was only a few months after Yitzhak Rabin had been assassinated and Shimon Peres from the (left) Labor party was leading in the polls over Binyamin Netanyahu from the (right) Likud party. Peres had a cushy lead in the polls for an extended period leading up to the election, mainly on a sympathy vote.
The pre-election polls NEVER had Netanyahu in the lead. Election Day came and went and as soon as the polls closed, the news stations announced the exit poll results: Shimon Peres was going to win, based on exit polls.
I went to a bar to drown my sorrows. A few hours later, in the middle of the night, I came back to my apartment and my roommates were ecstatic. The exit polls were wrong. Netanyahu had actually beaten Peres.
It would take several days for the last military and diplomatic votes to be counted, but Netanyahu won by 29,000 votes - less than 1%.
NEVER give up. VOTE VOTE VOTE. We need every single vote.
Thank you for the post. My father lived in Tel Aviv for a while when he was a child, and we are all hoping Netanyahu wins again in 2009.
You are totally right in saying that it is never over until it’s over.
Get out and vote!!
Yes, but to contine your analogy...
This election is Ehud Barak accepting the Clinton Non-Peace Agreement in which Israel was to give away half of Jerusalem. Assume Arafat accepted the deal too.
E. Jerusalem is handed over, along with 95% of the W. Bank. But the Hamas and Fatah violence against Israel continues and even worsens. Israelis get fed up and elect a hard liner like Netanyahu. Now can Netanyahu gear up the Israeli military and take back E. Jerusalem? No, not really. The world would not allow it, not even the U.S.
This “can’t go back” scenario is what the U.S. is up against today and for real. If Barack Hussein wins + a near filibuster proof Reid Senate + a larger majority Pelosi House + a Ayeresque U.S. Bench the changes will be nearly insurmountable for any GOPer to reverse. The damage will be done and mostly irreversible.
Also demographics are not on the GOPs favor especially if new gov’t issue crack money is given out to people. Soc Security has long been the 3rd rail of politics. Now imagine new programs that are not just a 3rd rail they are Kryptonite.
So we all need to just get McCain elected today.
After doling out new welfare "tax credits" and other free money to millions, how will anyone from the GOP ever get those peoples' support if they know he will try to stop the checks? He won't be able to stop the checks. The GOP will be painted as evil rich white men trying to take away the "income they deserve".
Worse, if Obama rams through a couple of liberal Supreme Court justices, they will be a curse that keeps on giving long after Obama is history.
And how will "the world" ever accept the US returning to a strong, patriotic position? They won't. They will condemn any return to right values.
It's a whole lot easier to prevent a mess than to clean one up. Go and vote! Prevent a giant mess!!!
The S. Ct. is just the visible portion of what will be rapid Constitutional decay. The Reagan and Bush I era appointees are retiring from the federal district and appellate courts at a much faster pace than the Clinton appointees.
These courts are every bit as important as the S. Ct. because it's where 99% of cases get adjudicated. Very few make it to the S.Ct. Obama will replace these retiring GOP appointees with judges that, like Obama, believe more in "social justice," than Constitutional law. And these appointees are likely to sit on the bench for 20-30 years.
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.