Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Arrogance and Amnesia – How the Republicans Gave Away the 2006 Election

I saw yet another column on why the Republicans lost the 2006 Mid-term elections to the Party se refugier dans une panique, long even by my standards. Folks, it’s really very simple, if sobering – the Democrats succeeded in poisoning the Republicans against themselves, so that voters were essentially told to either support the President or their Congressman. This does not mean, by the way, that President Bush was opposed to the Congress, or even that most Congressmen objected to the President’s work and priorities. Unfortunately, however, certain demagogues in the GOP – most notably Frist, Tancredo, McCain, Brownback, and Hagel – pressed their colleagues to support their turf wars rather than the nation’s needs and the party’s duties. Others, notably Hastert, Snowe, Foley, and Chafee, managed to disgrace the party’s image while allowing the Democrats to even appear to be morally superior. In the end, the most notable Republicans visible to the public in Congress betrayed the troops, the nation, their President, their party, their constituents, and their duty.

Only Democrats win under conditions like that, simply because they have much more experience at lying through their teeth to save their hides.

The problem now, however, is not only the damage done in giving over power to a collection of miscreants and immoral narcissists, but also the lingering poison in the Republican atmosphere. In one political blog which used to be a major player in the Blogosphere prior to self-immolation last year, the leading column writer (by volume) blasted the President with personal insults and unsubstantiated accusations. When I commented that the writer was acting very much like a Liberal in that regard and not at all like a Republican, he sarcastically thanked me for not considering him a Republican. And that sort of attitude is growing all too common – self-indulgent individuals of bad temper and no sense of duty to the President, who somehow think that assisting the Liberals and the Democrats by spiting the Republicans and Conservatives who try to maintain order and focus, will result in anything but disaster.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The republicans lost about thirty district elections in 2006, they didn't lose a national election, because there wasn't one. I doubt very much if there is any one or two factors we can beat our chest over.

The war in Iraq and corruption could be important, but the fundamental reason, if there is a national reason is the weak sister voters that went to the polls in the mid-term. The were 40% of the elecorate, and obviously the weakest 40% (or more likely 21% that made up the democrat victory). So this big "loss" and this big "mandate" the democrats are claiming is nonsense. Certainly 21% of the electorate is NOT a mandate for the sedition in the Iraq resolution, the dmeocrat are trying to usurp the constitutional powers of the commander-in-chief with.

Wally Lind
Lakeville, Minnesota