Where Republicans Lost:
They lost in Nevada, California, and my local NJ districts, the latter meaning the most to me personally. They also lost the key ‘headline’ races where the national Democrats did all they could to avoid 'above the fold' embarrassment. But it’s important not to take the wrong lessons from this. Roselle Catholic High School (In Roselle NJ if you couldn't guess) is a small school with a first rate basketball program, and the New Jersey Nets are probably the worst team in professional basketball. But if asked to put money down on a match-up, smart money would go with the Nets every time.
That’s what happened in all the places where Republicans lost. It was a matchup of vigorous amateurs against jaded and cynical professionals. The people who pulled the election out for Harry Reid, Rush Holt, Frank Pallone and the California delegation are all professional electioneers. They are union organizers, victimology agitators, and people who do nothing but influence elections for a living. It’s their entire career, and they devote 40 hours a week to it, 50 weeks a year. Against an organization like that it’s tough to make inroads when you’re doing it part time, and trying to run another business at the same time.
What’s more, had Chris Christie been running for Governor of NJ this election cycle, I don’t think he’d have won. I continue to maintain that the only reason he was elected in New Jersey, where civil service and teachers unions give pro-government candidates a 17 point advantage in statewide office going in, was because the unions didn’t really see him coming. But they certainly see him now. They know that people like Christie represent an end to their days of getting rich on the public dime, and they’ll do anything to prevent that coming to an end.
The thing to do now in NJ and Nevada is for those ambitious amateurs to take over the local Republican committees. That’s where the real battle will be fought. And the truth is, people like me have a responsibility on that front too. Giving credence to the small government story and condensing it to rational sound bites will play an important role in the next 24 months. People like me (and probably you – if you’re reading this) should do all we can to influence the dialog and try to make the independents understand that the path they voted for this cycle isn’t sustainable. We should talk loud in bars and restaurants, and ridicule people who are foolish enough to take the liberal side. Over time, it will change minds.
Except for the people in California. To be frank, I think the shortest path to electoral salvation for them is to let the parasites kill the patient, and then remove them from it's dead body. By my reckoning that will happen less than 36 months from now, so at least it will be quick. It might even be faster now the Governor moonbeam is back.
Where Republicans Won:
PJ ORourke had the best quote this election cycle which I ripped off for the title: “This wasn't an election, it was a restraining order.”
Republicans won basically everywhere that was really up for grabs – where the Democrat ‘community organizer’ machine was too weak to prevent them from doing it, or where the Democrat failed to put enough distance between Obama and himself. There really isn’t any doubt that this was a referendum on Washington and progressive policy. So more than a win for Republicans this was really a loss for the progressive wing of the Democrats.
We are a country that wants to be left alone by our politicians. But I’ll bet anything this is a message that team Obama fails to get. In fact, I’m not even completely sure about the Republicans getting it. Obama has built his entire career on the belief that the people he rules are too stupid to decide things for themselves. To him and the people like him, this election is nothing except more confirmation of the stupidity of the electorate. So he’ll go on using parliamentary tricks or whatever he has to, to make sure he circumvents the vox populi wherever he can, because he believes it’s for their own good.
When Obama got elected, it was by children, and grownups who think like children. They thought that they could elect one man with an eloquent teleprompter and instantly the oceans would begin to heal and the sky would clear. They believed that we were one election away from the final rise of Soviet man, free from the shackles of inequality imposed by a system that focuses on contemptable ‘merit’ over politics. But things don't change that way, and their disappointment over that fact was part of this election.
But the people that believe what the Tea Party does, aren’t expecting a miracle from a single election cycle. They know how long it takes to clean up a mess this big and they aren’t going to shy away when a single election isn’t everything they wanted. They’ll still be around – and still pushing, in 2012, and later. That’s the real victory this time I think, even if the Nets did manage to eek out a small victory over Roselle Catholic High School.
6 comments:
Everybody who worked for Anna Little and whose heart is broken, has accomplished more than they realize. As I have stated before, the 6th Congressional District is Gerrymandered in a way that makes it a buzz saw for any conservative candidate. Pallone took Plainfield 7,950 to 667. Anna faced a task that was near impossible.
The most important message, we can only hope, was impressed upon the established NJ Republican Party. The Lesson from the “Little People” is we want candidates that share and will not compromize on our core beliefs when they get to Washington. Representatives like that do more damage that progressive socialists like Pallone.
So how will the established party react. Will it try to keep the TEA Party fire burning? New Jersey State Constitution, Article II, Section 2 requires appointments to the New Jersey Redistricting Commission before June 15 of each year ending in one.
What does Monmouth County have in common with Plainfield? I know alot of people, but I don’t know anybody in Plainfield. I would bet the vast majority of Monmouth residents could not even tell you where Plainfied is.
The 6th Congressional must change.
I almost put her concession speech up on the post. (It's on NJ.com). My take was that she was a grownup whose supporters are all grown-ups. They aren't going anywhere. That will make a big difference over time - gerrymandering or no.
One final election comment.
I can't tell you how much better I feel about the wisdom of the American people, that they sent that despicable sack of manure Alan Grayson walking.
I've heard a lot of pretty despicable things in the last 40 something years, but that guy really topped them all. Hopefully they're still chasing him around central Florida with torches and pitchforks. It's no less than he deserves.
I agree with the comments here. We conservatives must work at the local levels to at least try to get an honest governmenyt back into Trenton (was there ever one?)Being from Morris OCunty, you can't get much redder in this state, but even here, there is far too much dependency on governement for my tastes.
One place where i can take solace though is that I do know that my son's vice principle will hold student's responsible for thier actions.
Frithguild: Where were the D precincts that came in for Pallone? It always seemed to me that he never broke a sweat about the campaign - he KNEW it was in the bag from day one, no matter what Anna Little did.
And for Tom or anyone else: What can we do to get more old-school Reagan-D's to wake up to the fact that their party has gone full Communist? We need party-building more than anything... why do no Republican groups run print or TV ads explaining their philosophy during non-election cycles? Where is the outreach or education? For a D to vote R, the process has to start with some reflection over time, I would think.
When I abandoned the Dallas Cowboys and decided to root for the Giants (my father, a Giants fan, warned me about the pain and suffering ahead - this was in the late 70's)... I agonized over this decision for a long time - and I was only ten years old! It's not an easy decision to put on a new uniform and I'm sure this is an issue with many potential R's in the NJ-6 district who have been lifelong D's.
In South Amboy, there were Hillary signs everywhere before the primary. After, not an Obama sign to be found. That says something (and no, it's not racism - Hillary was appealing to the old-school blue-collar D's - the ones who actually work for a paycheck). It is not a great distance other than psychologically to show these voters that the R's really do better align with their point of view than today's Democrat Progressive Vanguard.
You have some great commentary, and that's coming from a guy born in Trenton and lived in Marlton and Cinnaminson.
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