Does a Brown Victory Pose a Danger for GOP?
I detect a certain giddiness on the right — something to which I am not immune — regarding Scott Brown’s impending victory today in Massachusetts. But, like the slave who stood behind the Roman generals in their chariot as they received the adulation of the crowds during their triumph and whispered “Remember … thou art but a man” constantly into their ears, so too must I whisper in the ear of Republicans today: “Remember … Dick Thornburgh in 1991.” From Pollster.com:
I am sure that there are other example, but the one that stands out for me is the victory of Democrat Harris Wofford in 1991. Wofford, appointed earlier that year to fill a vacant Senate seat, began as a virtual unknown and began trailing by more than 40 points against popular former Republican Governor Dick Thornburgh. Although the final round of public polls showed the candidates running about even, Wofford’s momentum helped carry him to what turned out to be an eleven point victory margin (55 percent to 44 percent).
Of course, the same factors that make the trend toward Scott Brown so unusual also make the polling challenging and potentially misleading. Brown has moved up so rapidly partly because campaign has been truncated, but the rapid change also prompted a late avalanche of negative advertising by the Democrats directed at Brown. Because it is a special election being held on an usual date, pollsters have no prior history to judge the size and demographics of the likely electorate. The likely voter problem is one reason why polling errors tend to be larger in special elections.
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In other words, anything can happen. That Roman general might have fallen off his horse the next day and broken his neck, or run afoul of Caesar and met some particularly gruesome end. In Massachusetts, Democrats might wake up this morning and ask themselves if they really want to hand the hated GOP such a monumental victory. Or perhaps a couple of hundred thousand Republicans will fall off their horses and break their necks.
After more than 30 years of being involved in politics, I can assure you that if it is possible, it can happen. A Coakley victory, no matter how unlikely at this point, cannot be dismissed. I offer this not in the spirit of Cassandra, but simply as a longtime observer of politics who has seen sure things turn into tears on Election Day more often than he cares to remember.
That said, let’s pretend it’s tomorrow morning and Scott Brown’s glowing visage fills the screens of our televisions. Pundits will be chattering about the extraordinary debacle for Obama and the Democrats, and that’s the way it should be.
But might a Brown victory also pose a danger for Republicans?
Consider: With this victory is going to come expectations. Just what those expectations might be are going to vary wildly between the conservative rank and file in the Republican Party and those who are going to give Brown his victory — namely, the poor, put-upon, and slightly confused independent voter.
The base will be celebrating the destruction of the Democrats’ liberal agenda. But the independents won’t want to stop there. They may actually expect the GOP to work with the Democrats to get things done. Fixing the economy for starters; then, perhaps looking at some kind of health care reform that makes sense. Finally, with gas set to rise again, it may be prudent to come up with an energy policy beyond “drill baby, drill.” These are three issues that independents may very well expect the Republicans to help deliver on.
No, the public can only expect Brown’s 41st vote to stop the Obama agenda. People are smart enough to uderstand that the GOP won’t have enough votes to accomplish any of their goals. All they can do is hold back the socialists.
How can you work with Democrats who at every turn want to advance an unconstitutional socialist agenda? If Congress were truly restrained by the Constitution then we wouldn’t have to worry about the “progressives” always trying to destroy liberty and the USA. My expectations of the GOP are to fight everything the Libs want tooth and nail and demand they Libs provide Constitutional authority for all their proposed legislation. Play HARD ball.
Americans are NOT socialists.
“Remember … Dick Thornburgh in 1991.”
It is now 2010 and the MSM no longer has the ability to greatly influence red—and purple state voters. Enough of these people know that government should not be “doing something” about the economy. It is far better to drop the tax rates and cut back on spending. The government needs to get out of the way. We are also fortunately observing a rejection of the myth that FDR somehow saved the capitalism. An activist government only worsens an already sick economy. It’s similar to the doctors who bled their patients some two hundred years ago.
Don’tchya worry, we take the risk of winning.
And liberals aren’t exactly qualified to advise us about…mmmhh…anything ?
Good try anyway, super-hyper-dialectic on steroids. You could be endangering your brain with such workouts.
“In Massachusetts, Democrats might wake up this morning and ask themselves if they really want to hand the hated GOP such a monumental victory. Or perhaps a couple of hundred thousand Republicans will fall off their horses and break their necks.”
Or the dead might rise from the grave and shuffle to the polls (a frequent blue-state phenomenon).
I think people understand that the president pushes the agenda. That is how we got a huge Democratic congress and likely even how we got a president Obama, because Bush was still President in 2007 and 2008, even if congress was democrat. Obama’s party gets all credit and all blame until he is no longer president.
You can’t be serious with this kind of crap. Go back to Journalism 101.
#1 Eric, holding back the socialists is sufficient for now. Wait for November.
Yep. Time to get behind that perpetual motion bill that’s been bogged down in congress by Big Oil…
What a stretch!! As the man said, “…..A win? We’ll take it!” Brown is just part of the start. Now that the country has seen how the community “organizers” operate with their auxilieries like Acorn, the Unions, and illegal aliens it is apparent that we can all fight against them and win with good Republican candidates who have a solid message. Go Brown!!
The piece reminds me of someone worrying that IF he wins the lottery, it might change his personality. Gee, I think I’ll take that risk.
like a Croakly win would help anyone.
Like clockwork Moran is right on schedule to rain on the conservative parade. Talk about the enemy within!
Big oil?? Please Calvin. What about Big Hollywood example a $500 Million dollar movie with $10. seats. What about Big sports with every steroid packed college drop out earning at last $1.5 million?? There are grater issues than some old saw about Big iol. Oh you forgot YES WE CAN!! But Wait maybe NO YOU CAN’T.
I see no problem with Brown winning. Dems still have a healthy majority so health care reform will still become a reality. The GOP gets another Senator albeit a “progressive” and the people of Massachussetts get to send their message that ..”nobody tells them how to vote”. So, everyone wins, in my opinion. Brown, along with Lieberman and McCain will make for interesting points of view, and a great alternative to the their leadership. Don’t ya thnk?
The American economy will improve only if Barack Obama’s agenda fails. He is a major roadblock to the recovery. Obama deserves no credit whatsoever for any economic improvement. It will have done so despite his statist activism.
Islam is the answer.
Allahu akbar!
Mr. Moran… Dick – can I call you Dick? – you’re still looking for that tarnished lining on every cloud that happens to part even slightly to allow a shaft of sunlight to warm conservatives, aren’t you. Still frantically waving that white hanky because you’re not interested in the responsibility attendant to leadership. Still trying to prove your fence-sitting bona fides to land that gig in The Left Wing Media.
You’ve exaggerated guarded optimism into “giddiness”. You then attack that silly straw man, trying to prove there’s a negative outcome to this election, no matter how it turns out. The only “expectation” that’s going to come with this victory – IF IT HAPPENS – is that ObamaCare will be that much harder to shove down the throats of the People. Period. The rest of the fantasy you invented here is just that: fantasy.
It’s sad enough that almost all PJM writers pursue reactionary critiques and petty whining and take virtually no responsibility for leading conservatives to proactively restore this Republic. We don’t need Eeyores like you preaching hopelessness on top of that.
Here’s the thing: I’m an GDI. Whether Brown wins or loses, I expect the Republicans to start doing something to fix the economy that was finally destroyed by the Democrats when they seized control of Congress in 2006. I expect the Republicans in Congress to call Bullsh!t on any more leftist plans that will push us further toward socialism, thereby ultimately pushing the economy further into the toilet. I expect the Republicans in Congress to start proposing demonstrably capitalist, free market solutions – publicly and loudly – that conform to the rule of law, support the Republican Form of Government that is our right and honor the limited powers the Constitution defines. Those are the ONLY things Republicans need to be thinking long and hard about, IMHO
I hope that all Independents, Tea Party folks and even most so-called “moderates” expect the Republicans in Congress to do the very same thing, and that we will collectively kick their asses out of Washington – along with every last Democrat – if they don’t. What I will NOT stand for, any longer, is this “reaching across the aisle”, “big tent” nonsense and seeing empty, “bipartisan” bills passed simply to claim “something was done”.
So in that sense I want as an Independent is exactly the OPPOSITE of what your little defeatist fantasy predicts.
To date we’ve gotten whatever mediocre governance the mushy middle – the so-called “moderates” – are willing to settle for. Mediocrity has been the hallmark of this government for the past fifty years – culminating in the fiasco we have to deal with now. Primarily, that’s because so-called “moderates” used to be the Independents in this country. That’s no longer the case. The GDIs now comprise those who are fed up with BOTH political parties and are fed up with a power-hungry, dysfunctional government that sees itself as beyond accountability. We got that government through “moderation” – compromise with the moral adolescents on the left – and it has all but destroyed this Republic. Enough is ENOUGH.
Please do us all here a favor and keep your pathological defeatism on your own site, Dick.
The lessons that they should learn are these:
1. The social agenda takes a big backseat to the fiscal agenda
2. Don’t jut bitch about Democrats. Come up with bonafide solutions to problems. Health care is a problem-but the current solution that has been proposed stinks.
3. Live up to your promises. Don’t make the same mistake Congress made from 2000-2006.
4. Live humbly. The Congress of 2000-2006 didn’t. They lost the respect of the voters, and lost both houses of Congress and a Presidential election in 2008.
5. If you are going to be unethical, quit or don’t run.
The Tea Party people in your rear view mirror may be closer than it seems.
We the people are not clamoring for bipartisanship. We are clamoring for freedom! That is what Republicans had better deliver. Nothing more. Nothing less.
the leftist roots keep trying to grow back don’t the Rick
Islam is not the answer but I have been to Allahu’s snack bar the food sucked and the brukas were dirty.
It is right to be sober and circumspect however Mr. Moran appears to relish the thought that the GOP will fall on its face. It is interesting how the monikers of “liberal”, “conservative” “progressive” and “libertarian” fall by the wayside when the holder of the mantle speaks. (or writes, as the case may be), exposing the true beliefs lying therein.
As I see it in the country in which I live, the proletariat is basically tired of the lying, the largess to friends and family, and the idiotic android like character of this president coupled with the corruption of his administration.
There will be change … and hopefully at the ballot box, electing young, vital, sincere and attractive representatives of us, to do our will. If not, well, … be sure to buy and watch the DVD of the Fall of the Roman Empire … and just change the attire.
Yeah, it’s surely better play dead and get rolled over than to get blame for the economy.
The only solution is to get rid of them all, so the stupid cannot wreck the economy further and the spineless will not get blame.
I agree that it’s still a horse race, and I suppose anything can happen. Brown might slip on a patch of ice, fall, break his neck and die. Leaving aside something like that, or massive voter fraud, he seems quite likely to win the election.
I disagree with the exaggerated expectations redux thesis. True, it seems that lots of folks who voted for President Obama are now realizing that their expectations were fantasies, and that lots of folks who voted against him are now realizing that their concerns were too mild. But what does that have to do with the likely election of Brown? Unlike some misguided voters who thought that the election of Obama would bring heaven on Earth immediately following January 20th, there are likely few Brown voters who feel that his election will produce anything even remotely comparable. Brown is running for one percent of the seats in the Senate; Obama was running for one hundred percent of the seats behind the desk in the oval office.
I hope that the election of Brown will cause something approaching panic in the congresscritters and others who support Obama no matter what, and that Obama’s various initiatives will be aborted; even late term. Something may be better than nothing, but just anything that can be cobbled together to give Obama the appearance of a win before his state of the union address on January 27 is likely to be worse than nothing. The most important step now is to halt the descent of the guillotine blade before it whacks off the head of the economy. If the election of Brown accomplishes only that, and if as a consequence the country starts to get back on track, it will be a major achievement. I haven’t set foot in Massachusetts since early 1959, but I sense that the voters there recognize that as well.
“With this victory is going to come expectations.”
I should hope so. What is the purpose of running in oppostion to something if you yourself have absolutely nothing to offer as a viable alternative ?
If all the Republicans want is POWER then the hell with them as well as the Democrats. They have 8 months to get their collective head out of their collective you-know-what and offer the voters a PLAN.
If they don’t or worse if they can’t then they will be on the way to the political graveyard. Times are going to remain tough here guys. The economy is in BAD shape and is structurally unsound. If you don’t want Obama to define economic reality in the future then start thinking of SOMETHING besides ‘Tax Cuts’.
Frankly at this point I’m sort of sorry that the Tea-Party People are not able to completely subsume the Republicans, because frankly the Republicans don;t have much gas left in the intellectual tanks.
#14
I see no disadvantage to a Brown win. Quite the opposite. One great advantage will be that Dems in congress who have races for election upcoming will not be very interested in cramming terrible legislation down the throats of their constituents. The GOP gets another conservative in it’s ranks and the people of Massachusetts will be happy for the part they have played in bringing the avaricious, spendthrift, Constitution-flouting Dems to ground. So everybody wins.
Okay Rick, we understand that everything that can possibly be said about a nail-biter race the results of which aren’t in yet HAS been said and you still need to churn out your 500 words, but this is silly even under those conditions.
Having spent the better(?) part of the morning and early afternoon looking at comments posted on multiple sites, the one word which seems to pop out most frequently as to Ms. Coakley and her party is “arrogance.” There are of course other words, but being a gentle soul I don’t know what most of them mean.
The economy is an easy fix. A 9 to 12 month tax holiday would give those on the brink the margin they need to survive, it would increase consumption which would increase demand and require more employees be hired to make the products to satisfy that demand. Cut back on Federal spending and then watch the economy grow. Watch unemployment fall back to 5% and see the politicians that do this get re-elected.
Nothing hard about this unless you are a lobbyist or a crooked politician. Then you have to curtail growing your off-shore bank accounts for a while. My heart bleeds for them. It truly does.
The finger pointing is in full swing, and now it seems to be Ms. Coakley’s turn. A Coakley advisor disagreed with
“the current leaking coming out of the White House and the DNC that is chalking all of this up to a “bad candidate”.
The adviser, who cited internal polling numbers to make the case, emails that, “There’s more to the story than that. If Martha is guilty of taking the race for granted, so is the White House, and the DNC.”
The adviser pointed to internal polling to argue that Coakley held a wide — 20 point — lead on December 19, and that the damage she took between that survey and a January 5 Rasmussen poll putting the race at 9 points came from the national scene: The Senate vote on Health Care, with the controversy over Ben Nelson’s deal for Nebraska, and the Christmas Day bombing.
Let the games begin.
You’re always such a downer; take up another profession.
Super Ditto…..PJM needs to hire this guy!
Mr. Moran… Dick – can I call you Dick? – you’re still looking for that tarnished lining on every cloud that happens to part even slightly to allow a shaft of sunlight to warm conservatives, aren’t you. Still frantically waving that white hanky because you’re not interested in the responsibility attendant to leadership. Still trying to prove your fence-sitting bona fides to land that gig in The Left Wing Media.
You’ve exaggerated guarded optimism into “giddiness”. You then attack that silly straw man, trying to prove there’s a negative outcome to this election, no matter how it turns out. The only “expectation” that’s going to come with this victory – IF IT HAPPENS – is that ObamaCare will be that much harder to shove down the throats of the People. Period. The rest of the fantasy you invented here is just that: fantasy.
It’s sad enough that almost all PJM writers pursue reactionary critiques and petty whining and take virtually no responsibility for leading conservatives to proactively restore this Republic. We don’t need Eeyores like you preaching hopelessness on top of that.
Here’s the thing: I’m an GDI. Whether Brown wins or loses, I expect the Republicans to start doing something to fix the economy that was finally destroyed by the Democrats when they seized control of Congress in 2006. I expect the Republicans in Congress to call Bullsh!t on any more leftist plans that will push us further toward socialism, thereby ultimately pushing the economy further into the toilet. I expect the Republicans in Congress to start proposing demonstrably capitalist, free market solutions – publicly and loudly – that conform to the rule of law, support the Republican Form of Government that is our right and honor the limited powers the Constitution defines. Those are the ONLY things Republicans need to be thinking long and hard about, IMHO
I hope that all Independents, Tea Party folks and even most so-called “moderates” expect the Republicans in Congress to do the very same thing, and that we will collectively kick their asses out of Washington – along with every last Democrat – if they don’t. What I will NOT stand for, any longer, is this “reaching across the aisle”, “big tent” nonsense and seeing empty, “bipartisan” bills passed simply to claim “something was done”.
So in that sense I want as an Independent is exactly the OPPOSITE of what your little defeatist fantasy predicts.
To date we’ve gotten whatever mediocre governance the mushy middle – the so-called “moderates” – are willing to settle for. Mediocrity has been the hallmark of this government for the past fifty years – culminating in the fiasco we have to deal with now. Primarily, that’s because so-called “moderates” used to be the Independents in this country. That’s no longer the case. The GDIs now comprise those who are fed up with BOTH political parties and are fed up with a power-hungry, dysfunctional government that sees itself as beyond accountability. We got that government through “moderation” – compromise with the moral adolescents on the left – and it has all but destroyed this Republic. Enough is ENOUGH.
One thing I can always expect from Rick is to get a comic relief. Everytime he makes a serious face and pronounces some serious stuff – you can expect him to say something really stupid. Here is one example:
“After more than 30 years of being involved in politics, I can assure you that if it is possible, it can happen.”
Think about this – it took Moran 30 years to figure out that if something is possible, then it can actually happen. Imagine his intellect! And if he keeps up the good work, 100 years from now he will learn how to tie his shoelaces….
BTW, here the reference to my response to Rick’s article back from November. If anything, Rick is consistent…
http://hyphenatedamericans.blogspot.com/2009/11/rick-moran-monument-to-arrogance.html
Stopping the current Obamacare monster is an unalloyed good. Full Stop.
It is up to the Democraps to decide if they want to “reach across the aisle” as they campaigned and won elections on. If they keep up their current antics, then it is the Elephants’ duty to stand on the bridge and say, “thou shall not pass!” As I see it, a Brown victory will probably harden the hearts of the donkey leadership (Pelosi, Reid and the ONE) making the danger that you described moot.
If they are invited to actually participate, then that’s all to the good, assuming they don’t turn RHINO again, and settle for any crap they’re handed just because it’s been offered. If they do, then screw ‘em and let them know that the Tea Partiers are coming after them too!
**** ELECTION FRAUD ALERT ***
Document any fraud you experience or witness and report to:
Scott Brown campaign
http://www.brownforussenate.com/
MA GOP
http://www.massgop.com/
MA SoS Elections Division
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleidx.htm
Black Box Voting
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/contact.html
Your elected officials to let them know you will not tolerate this!
+
And post on any and all blogs!!!
Keep the light shining on these crooks and don’t let a single issue slide!
This column is a cure for insomnia. I don’t know why good Conservative sites keep posting drivel from this guy.
Love your logic.
If we win WWII, does that mean we’ll become overconfident vis-a-vie the Russians?
If the Colts win this year’s Super Bowl, does that mean we won’t get a decent pick in this year’s NFL draft?
If Leno gets his old job on the Tonight Show, does that mean the brass at NBC can’t ever fire him?
If we elect Barack Obama President, does that mean when we accuse whites of racism, the charge won’t stick?
If I buy a new high tech flat screen 42 inch Sony, does that mean it’ll be five or so years before I can once again get the latest technology TV?
Rick, of course there’s a downside to everything if you look for it hard enough. Trouble is, when you weigh it against the upside, the downside
is meaningless. You’ve finally done it. You’ve written a truly meaningless article.
rachel,
have a nice day
I’m hoping for a Brown victory myself, but I’m also being realistic when I say it ain’t over till it’s over, and however it finally shakes out, the finally tally will be very close, and I’m sure there’ll be some dispute about the final numbers, or other shenanigans that take place after the polls close. I hope I’m proven wrong on this, but I’m not holding my breath.
The fact of the matter is that the GOP *has* made reasonable, free-market proposals about health care and were totally shut out of the debate by Obama and the Dems. There is all kinds of evidence to suggest from this that the Dems with their supermajority are not at all interested in “reaching across the aisle” anyway. They *have* shown that they are power-mad and intent only on pushing through their radical agenda any way they can. Why else don’t they seem to care what we think?
This has gone far beyond any stubborn clinging to a particular issue by the Dems; this is an all-out defiance of not only the will of the people, but an orchestrated attempt to subvert the Constitution, the rule of law and everything else that America stands for and it must be defeated. If Scott Brown’s election is a small opening salvo to counteract it, so be it. I hope he wins.
I have always said that “Not as bad as the Democrats” is not an adequate mission for the Republican party, and while there may be some advantage from a republican mass victory, the republican party is still very much out of touch with the average non-liberal voter, and there is no reason to believe they have taken their recent electoral losses to heart as anything but a chance to sit out an election cycle and pull the same crap as they did under the Bush administration.
Tea Party types are being noticed, but their influence over republicans is yet to be seen.
I don’t know if this would promote “giddiness” for the GOP so much as serve as a wake up call.
Republicans have done a poor job of living up to their own ideals, and in many cases, have tried to out-democrat the Democrats. Spending, responsibility and even common sense have all fallen by the wayside is pursuit of power. At this point, gridlock would be a BLESSING.
The Republicans need to wake up and smell the TEA. It is a time to promote truly conservative (or libertarian) values. The RINO’s like Arlen Spectre (now a D) will be forced to answer for their irresponsible behavior or be voted out.
Rick, can I call you Moron? Sorry, that was poor.
With your great insipid insight, I hope your day job is much less mentally challenging.
Here is a very depressing and equally serious article suggesting that even what most would consider a substantial win by Mr. Brown would be insignificant.
He has to get more than 60%!
Go for it, Mr. Brown.
Jeff and Rick get it…
The lessons that they should learn are these:
1. The social agenda takes a big backseat to the fiscal agenda
2. Don’t jut bitch about Democrats. Come up with bonafide solutions to problems. Health care is a problem-but the current solution that has been proposed stinks.
3. Live up to your promises. Don’t make the same mistake Congress made from 2000-2006.
4. Live humbly. The Congress of 2000-2006 didn’t. They lost the respect of the voters, and lost both houses of Congress and a Presidential election in 2008.
5. If you are going to be unethical, quit or don’t run.
With Brown in office, you just get a block. But if people are *still* unemployed and *still* without insurance, esp after the Reps come in in Nov, the ball will be back in Obama’s court.
Yet many, many conservatives seems to want to insult and diss instead of facing this issue. WhY?
It is relieving to see some people get it. Now if only the media (apart from Mr. Moran) get it
Of course it could spell trouble unless we pay very close attention. The Republican Party has been in trouble since the election of Bush 41. When you compromise your principles to get people to like you (so very junior high) they don’t. Not only do they not like you, they don’t trust you.
We have Obama for president because Republicans in Congress and in the former administration spent like drunken sailors, loaded bills with more pork than Bob Evans serves for breakfast and engaged in the same kinds of behavior we are now seeing among the Democrats (at a much lower level by far). Integrity was not high on anyone’s list of important character qualities on either side of the aisle.
What we need is to insist politicians obey the law, do their jobs, get paid something approaching a normal (translation-middle class) salary, no retirement (no one should be in Congress long enough to retire), term limits, no junkets, and most especially-they pay for and get the same health care available to their constituents. Maybe then the people who run for office would actually have integrity and want to serve the people who sent them to Washington. It’s worth a shot. After all the way we have been doing it hasn’t worked so well lately.
#26 Dougf:
Absolutely, positively, 100% correct!
as well as Dennis and PT Bull have the same opinions. Many hope Moran is wrong, but their memories don’t stop at 1/20/08 like some conservatives. They remember what caused the Reps to fall.
Thanks Rick. I was hoping someone would save us from a brief moment of enjoyment before we got another kick in the face. If you hadn’t said something, I might have started having warm feelings for Palin again or something. ‘preciate it. Don’t know what we’d do without you. Did I mention that you rock, because you do. Pardon me while I go slit my wrists for not realizing that Brown winning was a bad thing. Goodbye cruel victory.
Maybe we could get Moran and Noonan together, they could adopt the other “true conservative”, Andi Sullivan and live happily ever after.
Rick, for your scenario to work, you’d have to assume that both Reid and Pelosi and the other House and Senate Democratic leaders would be willing to back off their agenda and/or if the voters across the United States would somehow believe that if Brown wins tonight, the Republicans once again control Congress.
You can’t overreach when there’s no lever of power to grab, and the Republicans can’t control either chamber of Congress until January of 2011. Come back in 11 1/2 months and you might be able to make a case for a Brown win, plus dozens of other GOP wins in November, being interpreted the wrong way, but for now control and accountability remains in the hands of the Democrats, and recent statements by Nancy and others like Dick Durbin show the leadership is more likely to double-down on their liberal agenda than to signal any truce with congressional Republicans.
“Cheer up. It ain’t that bad.”–Edina Monsoon.
Rick, as I see it the only real danger is it lets obama/democrats/liberals off the hook.
Which is to say the democrat media can now say that the evil conservatives just will not let them have their way.. no matter the bribe(or a Snow takes a bribe and it is now Bi-Partisan). Then all the dumb ass “Independents” will once again swallow the democrat media near monopoly message.
That is the only danger I see.
You can handwring tomorrow…tonight we want a win!
Thank you Buzz Killington
What seems to get lost in all of these analysis pieces is that this is happening in the “bluest” of “blue” states (MA went for McGovern while Nixon took the other 49 states in 1972).
If a Democrat can lose in MA, they can lose anywhere that the Democrats can’t guarantee a huge Democratic vote, including possibly some “safe” seats.
The tone deafness by Democratic leaders to this is remarkable.
For the past week there have been multiple stories about a “backup plan” for HCR. This is a political atmosphere where it would be easier to strike the letter “W” from the English language than to prudently think of passing HCR while maintaining a future in politics.
It would be folly for the GOP establishment to read this phenom taking place in Massachusettes as an endorsement of their current leadership and efforts. This has more to do with mainstreet America’s dissatisfaction with ALL of the elite political leadership, the supposed “intelligentsia” that supports/enables them, and especially a repudiation of business as usual. It truly is time to drain the swamp and refill it with fresh water. That applies to incumbant pork barrelers regardless of party, Wall Street anarchy, Too Big To Fail Corporations and the US Chamber of Commerce that underwrites them, out of control “illegal” immigration,a Blame America First MSM, etc.
Certainly Scott Brown is not the person that will make any or all of these changes, he is simply a shot across the bow of the establishment. It is grassroots, traditionalists that will make these changes. They have taken great pleasure in referring to us as the “chattering masses” and that we should simply be ignored. Well, that was what the French aristocracy also said right before they all met Mr. Guillotine.
Only elitist Republican snobs will have problems with Scott Brown. The regular folks, not so much.
So I guess we should just never want to win again so we don’t have to face the reality of expectations. Man up.
Govern with good faith and common sense, everything will be fine.
I did not and WOULD NOT Waste My Time reading this article, because just the title is enough to let me know that it is the product of a PLU-PERFECT IDIOT!!
You sir, are a “thinker” in the SAME WAY that Glenn Beck is a “thinker”…..which to say that YOU THINK in the EXACT SAME WAY that Most People DEFACATE!!!
…..which is to say: In short, smelly, SPURTS!!!!
Just when you think Rick Moran’s latest column was his stupidest ever, he writes another one.
I agree. This was the most asnine column I’ve ever seen on PJM. Expectations for the GOP after this election? Yeah, right, the party with 41 seats. This election wasn’t a signal to the Republicans to start being bipartisans and work with the Democrats. This was a signal to the Democrats to slow the hell down and start paying attention to the wishes of the voters. A message to them to stop trying to ram an agenda through that nobody likes.
The expectations are on the Dems – expectations to pull their fingers out of their ears and start listening to feedback. To govern like representatives instead of like lordlings.
Although I’m quite sure the current GOP establishment can find a way to screw this up, the odds are the Dems are the ones who will continue sinking.
Sheesh. What a load a malarkey.
The new senator didn’t really need the RNC to win, raising more than 5 milllion on his own. The third party boosters will take heart.
Far be it for me to pile on, and I always find myself nodding more in agreement with Goy, BUT Moran does have a point here, only I would have said with far fewer words :
OK, GOP, you won, now is the time to get beyond the “they suck worse” formula, resort to first conservative principles and get to work. You can only rely on Dem overreach so often before the blank pages in your own playbook become apparent. Besides, you have the added advantage as presenting conservatism as something completely new and different since it have never been tried.
But, Frank, it have been tried. At least to some degree. That is why the U.S. is not France, Germany, Norway or Sweden, for example. What little that is left of a free country, after being savaged by FDR, Johnson, Clinton, and now Obama, is the result of thinking and action by conservatives. Think pendulum, Frank, pendulum.
Frank, length aside, what you wrote – a concise admonition of what the GOP should do – has absolutely nothing in common with Moran’s pointless, defeatist fantasy. Once again, he had no point, just a commitment to write something – anything – and a deadline.
On a related note, I was nonplussed by a form email I received “from Michael Steele” and the GOP today. I’ve been getting these since I donated to the RNC the day after McCain selected Palin as his V.P. nominee. Steele had the unmitigated gall to effectively claim Brown’s victory as the RNC’s and, in that context, ask for money to continue the fight. Here’s an excerpt, which frankly was as insulting as Christina Romer’s risible prediction that the Spendulus would keep unemployment down and Obama’s idiotic claim that socialized medicine will save the Taxpayers money in the long run:
It takes some real balls – and a serious disconnect with reality – to claim that Brown was backed by the RNC in any way after they essentially abandoned him because they were sure he’d lose. And I replied to them to tell them as much. The only thing Brown’s victory really proved is that the only way Republicans can win – as long as they’re saddled with the ineptitude of current GOP leadership – is if the opposition goes so over the top with marxist policies that even a place like Massachusetts gets P.O.’d.
This email proves that the GOP has been infiltrated by morally adolescent leftist-wannabes, like Michael Steele, who have no compunction about lying right to people’s faces. I’m sure Moran is a big Steele fan.
“I see no problem with Brown winning. Dems still have a healthy majority so health care reform will still become a reality. The GOP gets another Senator albeit a “progressive””
What a difference 2 days makes!
The Health Care Scam is looking for a nice place to lay down between the Titantic and AGW. Fancy Nancy and Dirty Harry BOTH say so. Add Cap-and-Trade to that scrap heap on the bottom of the ocean. Brown is a Conservative. Not a Progressive, Liberal, Socialist or any other type of 4th worlder. Hopefully the first of many such to serve the good citizens of Massachusetts.
How many “Democratic “Congresscritters will switch to the Republican party over the next few months? Which begs the question, “Do we want them”? I say no. Switching coats proves they are unprincipled. It was unprincipled politicians that ruined the Republican Party under Bush. Let them stand as Independents and find someone to run against them this fall.
One danger is that people will see this as a VICTORY rather than as a pass interception which gives us the chance to do something. This morning, Deroy Murdock’s column nicely summarizes a set of goals which the Republicans should take on.