My greatest hope in regard to the upcoming elections, including the recall election taking place in Wisconsin, is that the Koch brothers and all the other deep pockets hauling out big $$$ for Walker in Wisconsin as well as national and local Republican candidates across the country wind up spending multi-millions of their dollars on losing campaigns.
Obama and the Democrats in general just might turn most, if not all, of the Republican gains in 2010 into losses come November. I'm not predicting that, but it certainly is a possibility. Republicans across the country overplayed their hands and in the process revealed just how mean spirited and ethically bankrupt they are.
Early on, they began to fear in the back of their calculating little minds that they would more than likely lose nationally in 2012. Now that it has become obvious that virtually all of the declared and not declared Republican candidates for president recently graduated from clown college, they are even more alarmed.
So, shortly after the 2010 elections, they set about to disenfranchise as many likely Democratic voters as possible by making draconian changes to state voting regulations, many of which harken back to Jim Crow days. Many of the Republican-held state legislatures have been frantically gerrymandering their voting districts, also in an effort to effectively disenfranchise Democratic voters.
Republicans at all levels of government have been attempting, and in some instances succeeding, to kill unions. Why? Unions are virtually the only organized entities which provide significant funding to Democrats. Killing unions effectively cuts off a great deal of Democratic funding, especially for state and local campaigns. On the other hand, Republicans get huge amounts of their funding, both nationally and locally, from large corporations, most of which (or should I say "whom" since the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are people?) hate unions as well.
Article comments
1 - Glenn Contrarian
What the Republican cognoscenti are not getting is that the further to the right they drift, the more moderates they leave behind. The GOP's become so extreme that even Reagan and George H. W. Bush - and even Dubya - would be rejected as socialists and would stand zero chance of nomination in today's GOP. I agree with the progressive pundit Stephanie Miller (whose dad Warren Miller was Goldwater's running mate in 1964) when she refers to what has happened to the GOP as "Obama Derangement Syndrome" - because they've gone batcrap crazy, completely off the rails compared to what they were before.
And now matter how much as they want to deny it, much of the GOP's case of ODS is due to the red-state South's alarm and fear of Obama's race and name.
2 - baritone
I purposely left race out of my article with only the sort of glancing blow I made about his being left handed. I do, however, believe that race provides the underpinning, if you will, of the total lack of respect Obama has received.
I just read a very good article concerning Obama and his Presidency in the current "Atlantic" by James Fallows. Check it out. On balance, Fallows gives Obama good marks, but it is hardly just a feel good piece. Fallows takes Obama to task for a lot of his missteps and outright failures.
What I really found interesting is that Fallows claims that Obama was both unprepared and unsuuitaed for the Office, and his inexperience hurt him a great deal, especially during his first year. But Fallows also goes on to claim that virtually no President has been prepared for the job - that it's virtually impossible to prepare for; that most stumble badly at some point or points during their tenure. It is the good ones, who in Fallows' opinion ultimately find their bearing, learn from their mistakes and eventually take proper control. While the jury is still out on Obama, in that regard - and the verdict may only be ascertained if he wins a second term - Fallows believes that Obama has in fact found his rhythm and has gained control now more than at anytime over the past 3 years.
Sorry if I let the cat out of the bag, as it were, but if you can access it, the article will still be a good read as Fallows breaks down various aspects of Obama's term and analyzes much of both the good and the bad.
3 - Arch Conservative
Oh how I long for the day when Chris Christie decides it's time.
4 - baritone
Arch - You're right, of course. Christie might have turned out to be the rock star the Reps have been looking for, and probably had the best chance of beating Obama. He's intelligent, articulate, funny, engaging, self-deprecating, even charming. He most certainly will be vying for the nomination in 2016. Frankly, I don't see anyone on the Republican horizon who could beat him.
It's also possible, though, had he given in, joined the fray and risen to the top as he likely would have, the heat of the scrutiny by the media and his opposition might have revealed any flaws he possesses and torn him up like it has most all the others, rendering him just another flavor of the week.
5 - Arch Conservative
I think Christie did the political calculus and determined the GOP will lose in 2012 and that the nation will be jonesing for a Republican in 2012 like a junkie looking for his/her next fix.
6 - baritone
Arch - do you mean 2016?
7 - John
"Republicans across the country overplayed their hands and in the process revealed just how mean spirited and ethically bankrupt they are."
Very well said.
8 - jamminsue
Baritone: Good point -
Oh, and of course there's always the underlying bias against him owing to his being left handed.
Because, of course, that is definitely sinister...
Good job!
9 - Glenn Contrarian
Chris Christie wouldn't have stood a chance, either. The GOP has moved so far to the right that whoever really wants to win the GOP nomination has to take positions that are wildly out of step with most of the American public...and it's not until "moderate Republican" and "compromise" are no longer considered vulgar epithets among the most influential Republicans that they will stand a real chance in the general election.
10 - Dr Dreadful
Romney (and MAYBE Ron Paul) are the only ones still standing who have a chance of beating Obama if nominated. The alternatives, a lunatic and a sleazeball, will both get obliterated.
11 - Zingzing
Paul is a bit too outlandish as well, doc. He'd bring up a passionate base, but would probably put off the middle, and he'd be so far out there that dems might get off their asses.
Romney is the only real threat. As a nominee, he'd get most of the right, some of the middle and wouldn't be deemed fucked up enough to get the left to care.
Santorum is worse than Paul and newt is newt... In that nobody really likes that guy--so uninspiring to the right or left that the incumbent is assured of victory.
12 - baritone
Paul's racist history would likely come back to haunt him in a general election. That should do a job on his "kindly old grandfather" image.
13 - Cannonshop
#12 Didn't hurt Robert Byrd. then again, in addition to his Klan affiliation, Byrd was also a Democrat, so the affiliation didn't really apply.
Pauls' problem isn't his past, it's his inability to speak charismatically in the PRESENT.
He's not pretty enough, or 'cool' enough, he's a poindexter, which might've worked against an Urkel, but not against the charismatic, handsome, graceful, and perfectly-packaged current resident of the White House.
Charisma, looks and style win more General Elections than policy, skills, or Resume items do.
The GOP really doesn't have someone who can look good on the television-esp. against Obama's media-perfect voice, good looks, and fairytale family life. ("fairytale" in this case not implying any falsehood, simply that it's visibly so ideal that it draws JUST the right amount of admiration and envy to appeal large swathes of potential voters-hell, even his WIFE is hot, and young enough to show it while remaining credible...)
By contrast, the GOP has lost credibility even among the opposition-as an opposition party, that is. Their actions over the last sixteen years have been directly counter to their own rhetoric-the GOP has expanded both government, and government giveaways, endlessly, wasted blood and treasure in "Nation Building" foreign wars, many of which ran counter to American Interests, validated restrictions on liberties and expansion of EXACTLY the kind of government that they ran against in 1994 (the GOP's last "good year"), and the voters that they relied on, the Opposition, are finally getting wise to the sham-which is why the reception for the "Front runners" is so...tepid, even among the die-hards.
Think on why Gingrich, a failed leader, is even on the scoreboard this time-it's because he's got name-recognition, and that's really all he has. Santorum's on the board for the same basic reason, as is Romney. Ron Paul's running because Ron Paul ALWAYS runs, no expectation of getting nominated, he just does it. The only way to beat a blowdry candidate with charisma, is to hit him with substance, and unfortunately, the GOP's substance is kind of like soap bubbles where it needed to be like concrete.
14 - baritone
You're leaving out the fact that Ron Paul is on the edge of being bat shit crazy. His platform which supports a policy claiming that any government is bad government would put us just about one step from anarchy.
He has stated or at least intimated that he would not have involved us in WWII had he been at the helm. He is pretty much a total isolationist who believes that we should have little or no presence in the world outside our borders. He fails to recognize that the global community is firmly entrenched, especially as regards commerce.
Somewhat ironically, though, while he does not believe government should involve itself in gay marriage and many other social/moral issues of the day, he does believe that government should make and enforce laws pertaining to abortion.
I assume, Cannon, that your opening salvo regarding Paul and Byrd's racism is a dig at Democrats. Considering that most of the old line bigoted southern Democrats are now solidly aligned with the Republicans, I don't see how there is any relevance to such an accusation.
15 - Igor
Republicans have ALREADY blown it. They just don't have any substantial issue with which to attack Obama. All they have is whiny quibbles. Obama stole the National Security issue with a few Al Queda assassinations. The republicans dependence on outmoded supplyside econ leaves them with no solution for the economy. Their entire econ platform is "sit tight". Don't do anything, wait for a recovery. Maybe it'll help to pray.