Posted on 08/08/2010 10:28:41 PM PDT by Libloather
Apparently, Elections Actually Can Make a Difference
Columnist Rob Cornelius asks: Will Democrats finally stand up against their national party that no longer matches their views? Will they switch parties?
Posted Thursday, August 5, 2010 ; 06:00 AM
National elections matter. Period.
For years, a rubber stamp in the Democrat column for president, West Virginia was taken for granted as we kept voting in droves for some of the most embarrassing candidates offered.
Carter, Dukakis ... even Mondale came close. Thanks to the continued miracle of straight-ticket voting via one simple check, folks who liked the late Sens. Byrd or Randolph got pulled along into voting for guys who didn't have much in common with us.
But West Virginians rejected George McGovern and overt communism nearly 40 years ago. As the national Democrat Party tried to keep its front yard mowed and presentable for folks interested in having jobs and prosperity, the hippies were busy growing drugs and dissent out back.
Beloved Bill Clinton at least put a responsible southern face on his version of the White House. Despite his personal foibles, folks here could trust what he said and the results he got.
Back when normal voters still thought the craziest thing the Left could do was make our kids read books about little kids with three mommies, most of the stuff in the backyard was ignored.
But it was growing. From the classrooms where our kids learn values not ours to the government agencies where unelected people slowly steal freedoms, what we have now nationally was growing.
West Virginians squarely rejected what Barack Obama was and represented. It was clear what he was about long before he was elected. Anti-energy? Sure. Higher taxes? No doubt. Eager to invite as many illegal foreign aliens here as possible? Absolutely.
West Virginia voters are called stupid, taken for granted. Even so, they seemed to know what our star elected officials here did not.
Democrats here did their part for a team that doesn't share their values. Being pro-gun, pro-life and pro-coal has no place in the national Democrat Party. Former Clinton adviser Dick Morris was right when he told a Wheeling audience this spring that there is no such thing as a conservative Democrat left.
Nonetheless, they all endorsed Barack Obama. From Gov. Joe Manchin on down.
Every week we are told how conservative the governor is. How he's really a Republican. How he could never win here as one, so that's why he has to remain in his party. Oddly, Republicans for president keep winning here. Shared values with our voters it would appear.
Should Manchin become the next U.S. senator, he may wield a fair bit of power as a swing vote. The greatest trump card he or an elected Rep. Mike Oliverio in northern West Virginia might have upon arrival in Washington is the ability to painlessly change parties should either side of the Capitol switch power.
Big picture, we are coming to an inflection point in this state. It should have come a cycle or two ago, absent the need of the West Virginia Republican Party to set itself on fire to no great effect.
Voters here will have sufficient choices soon. Will Democrats finally stand up against their national party that no longer matches their views? Will they switch parties?
The national mood is clear. This week in Missouri, about two out of three voters were for a ballot referendum against nationalized health care. I figure it would poll still worse here.
The president is pushing every button to make sure illegal aliens turn into "undocumented Democrats." Voters here, even without the help of cheap Mexican labor, don't want more folks on the dole. The world's fattest poor people with the best cable don't want anyone else in their trough.
This immigration issue is frankly more dangerous to Dems in rural states lacking an immigration problem.
Finally, the spending. Oh, the spending. No matter how well the governor has done in balancing budgets here like an adult, his brethren in the national Democrat Party won't stop. This week's analysis of fake stimulus spending should be enough to put folks over the top.
My favorite is millions for a WNBA practice facility at an Indian casino in Connecticut. Those aren't West Virginia values.
None of these are. It's a riskless move, with upside at the ballot box, to run against Obama. Let's see whether any of these Democrats here have the guts to do it.
Do you want to have friends in D.C.? Or do you want to have friends in the Blue Lot?
First off - I kinda think Rob is either gay or deranged. Can't prove it - don't want to.
the hippies were busy growing drugs and dissent out back.
Just looked up 'hippies' on Yahoo. Sounds like Pelosi can go back to gardening.
Mondale came to what? Last Place?
this author is an idiot. Mondale came close???
Reagan 55.1% of the vote in West Virginia
Mondale 44.6% of the vote.
Normally in a presidential election, a 10% nationwide MOV is considered a landslide, although perhaps not a for a state. Still, a 10.5% margin of victory is nowhere in the same solar system as “close”.
http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1984&fips=54&f=0&off=0&elect=0
Reagan had 18% of the national vote. Mondale was the fat chick to Reagan’s sweet talking hoodrat with saggy pants.
“Reagan had 18% of the national vote.”
How do you take 49 of 50 states with 18% of the national vote?
I meant to say an “18 point advantage”.
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