Posted by
Bill Crawford on Saturday, September 18, 2010 10:45:32 PM
This was a very, very interesting week. Even if I were disgusted by all of this (which about half of you reading probably are), I would have to be amazed at the furious turn of events.
Rubio was not supposed to come close to Crist in the Florida primary. Then when Crist decided to stay in as an Independent, he was going to siphon enough votes off to kill Rubio anyway. Rubio has a comfy lead in the polls now. Murkowski is going to do the same damned thing to Joe Miller in Alaska. Then there was Rick Lazio being sent packing in NY. And then, Delaware.
Christine O'Donnell was an unemployed amateur, they said. Her own party hated her there. Hell, when she won, Karl Rove was allegedly seen beating his forehead against a wall. Castle was supopsed to be a Republican lock, now we'll never get a majority.
And if we get a majority, and we have to fight them to stop this insanity, what is the point? The Republican establishment is STILL not getting the point.
Here it is, if you're still confused. The Tea Partiers are not rolling because they are a group of Republicans. Or conservatives. They are winning because they have stripped Obama of most of his Independent support over a few simple issues. Between the conservatives and the independents, they are tacitly giving a series of outsiders a chance to take power, using the Republican Party as a convenient vehicle. Why the GOP? Because the Democrats are completely beyond the pale to them.
If they take power and end up doing the same-ol, same-ol after a year, they will get tossed on their butts, too.
What do they want? Stop the spending. Bring spending levels back to at least 2007 (when the deficit was $160 billion). No cap & trade energy taxes. No tax hikes. No value added tax. Stop the spending. No more stimulus. No more TARP, no more bailouts. Stop the spending. No more earmarks. No more revolving door lobbyists. Defund Obamacare, before it kills us. Stop the spending.
If you are on the stump this Fall, and you go along with this, we don't care if you aren't a politician. You don't have to be polished. Your background does not have to be pristine. We are on a precipice, and there isn't time to field a slate of well scrubbed candidates. We'll take what we can get. That is why the hoots about O'Donnel's flaws are falling on deaf ears. I know she isn't perfect. She's better than what has been holding that office for the last thirty years. Bill Buckley said it best: "I'd rather be governed by 535 people chosen randomly from the phone book".
What happens after they get elected, and there is a new majority? Maybe nothing. The opposition is certainly not going to roll over and play dead. But the ranks of the people who fight this will be further decimated in 2012. This is NOT about winning a majority. This is about governing.
It's not going to be pretty, and it won't be fun. But they have to try.
The things they will attempt have been regarded as the third rail for a long time. But the housing bust, and all the actions of this government that followed were a game changer. They will be supported by people politely holding off the pitchforks, waiting to see what happens. And they will be opposed by a growling, furious, howling mob, many of them with their own "skin in the game"- namely, public jobs, salaries and pensions.
2011 will be a howler of a year. Fasten your seat belts, as Betty Davis once said, it's going to be a bumpy ride.