Far-right Tea Partier Christine O'Donnell's thumping of Republican stalwart Mike Castle in Tuesday night's GOP primary for Delaware's open U.S. Senate seat unveiled the real political story of the season. It is a story that offers the Democrats perhaps their only shot at preventing widespread losses in November.
The real story of the season is not the Congressional Democrats' weak November midterm outlook (though no one can deny that). It is not the collapse of Barack Obama's popularity (not nearly as collapsed as the MSM would have us believe). And, contrary to the prevailing narrative of the past 48 hours, it is not of a "grassroots" Tea Party campaign taking down the "Republican establishment". Tea Partiers, right-wing media and the mainstream punditocracy have clutched especially close to this last one, pointing to the "insurgent", "outsider" victories of Rand Paul, Joe Miller, Sharron Angle, and O'Donnell, but they are deliberately missing the point.
No, the real political story of the season is of a national Tea Party movement walking into local primaries, shoving aside local issues and local politicians, and running telegenic, far-right extremists on a nationalized platform that has little to nothing to do with the regional concerns of the state. It is far-right "Tea Party" ideology at the expense of local needs. This phenomenon has shown itself in each of the four candidacies I mentioned above.
In Kentucky's U.S. Senate race between "libertarian" Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Jack Conway, we have seen Paul walk into poverty-stricken Eastern Kentucky and explain to coal miners there that federal mining regulations were unnecessary, because if "good rules" aren't in place, "no one will apply for those jobs ". This followed the deaths of two miners in western Kentucky, his response to which was "Maybe sometimes accidents happen". Rand Paul has described rural Kentucky's drug epidemic as "not a pressing issue", and has attacked anti-drug programs like Operation UNITE—programs funded by the federal earmarks Paul so openly loathes on his purely ideological grounds.
Rand Paul earned the GOP nomination for the KY U.S. Senate seat by defeating Secretary of State Trey Grayson, a protege of the current U.S. Senate Minority Leader (and Kentucky senior Senator) Mitch McConnell. Grayson spent the primary attacking Paul over his blatant disinterest in local KY issues. In his victory speech after defeating Grayson, Paul praised the Tea Party movement nine times . He did not mention the state of Kentucky one single time . Paul would never have come even close to knocking off Grayson had it not been for the support of the national Tea Party movement, and the specific endorsement of Tea Party leader and former half-term governor Sarah Palin.
In Alaska—a state even more dependent than Kentucky on congressional earmarks—GOP Senate nominee (and Tea Party darling) Joe Miller is running against congressional earmarks. He's running on behalf of a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment. He wants to place a moratorium on any new government entitlement. He wants to tie the growth of government spending to the rate of inflation. He wants to kill the Department of Education. To kill the NEA. To privatize Social Security. To repeal the recent universal health care legislation. Whether or not anyone agrees with these positions, what is striking about them is how little they have to do with the particular needs of the state of Alaska, a state that relies more on federal spending than any other state in the union.
Miller was a Tea Party, Sarah Palin-endorsed "insurgent" who defeated sitting Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski in the GOP primary, 51-49%. Murkowski, unlike Miller, was an enthusiastic supporter of federal earmarks for Alaska, and in many other ways a political moderate. She was also a member of an Alaskan political dynasty. Miller would never have come even close to toppling Murkowski had it not been for the support of the national Tea Party movement, and the specific endorsement of Tea Party leader and former half-term governor Sarah Palin.
Sharron Angle. Jesus Christ, where does one even begin with Sharron Angle? I think Harry Reid's opponent may be the most insane candidate I have ever seen in my lifetime. The gaffes of the Nevada GOP Senate nominee have become legendary. As a cure for a potential loss at the ballot box come this November, she has recommended "2nd Amendment remedies ". She counseled 15 year-old victims of rape to turn "a lemon situation into lemonade " by bringing their resulting pregnancy to term. She has described the unemployed as "spoiled ".
With Angle, I could go on like this all day. But that would be missing the real problem with her candidacy. It is not just that she is batshit crazy. It is that she appears to have zero interest in what kind of policies would help her fellow Nevadans. Angle wants to privatize Medicare. She wants to abolish Social Security. She believes a household should have only one parent working. She wants to eliminate the IRS. To prohibit alcohol consumption. To prohibit fluoridated drinking water. That's great. What does any of this have to do with the local concerns of the state of Nevada?
And last but not least, we have Christine O'Donnell. Besides her surprising victory over Congressman Mike Castle in Tuesday's GOP primary for Delaware's open Senate seat, O'Donnell is best known for despising the practice of masturbation. As Rachel Maddow put it in last night's show, O'Donnell's job for the past 4 years has been to run for the U.S. Senate. As in, she ran for the Senate in 2006, 2008, and 2010. During that period, she relied upon campaign donations to pay her rent. This individual literally makes her living running for the Senate. She has never run for or held another political office in her life.
Christine O'Donnell won her U.S. Senate nomination by defeating Congressman Mike Castle, a somewhat moderate Republican who has represented Delaware's single Congressional district for 9 consecutive terms. Prior to that, he served as Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Senator, State Representative, and Deputy Attorney General of the state of Delaware. He has held some form of elected office in the state since 1965. Until his defeat at the hands of O'Donnell, he had never lost a single election in his lifetime.
So how did she pull it off? O'Donnell began a whispering campaign that her opponent was secretly gay. Her campaign repeatedly lied about his voting record, painting it as more moderate than it actually was. The national Tea Party movement took notice, decided they wanted to direct from above who Delaware's Republicans should be nominating, and got behind her. Tea Party leader and former half-term governor Sarah Palin came in and gave her a huge endorsement. Right-wing and mainstream media have attempted to color this and the other Tea Party victories listed here as a case of the "grassroots" defeating the "establishment". Kay at Balloon Juice nails exactly why that frame is a crock:
When national media are dissing “the establishment” in Delaware, they’re talking not just about the national Republican Party, but about state Party delegates, who are not “Party bosses” but instead are long-term GOP activists and loyal partisans who attend State conventions, show up to volunteer locally year after year, and know their state’s electorate and issues really well.
Those people supported Castle.
While Castle also had the support of the national GOP, grouping the individual activists who make up state delegations and the national Republican Party together and calling them “the establishment” while depicting the Tea Party as “grass roots” is not accurate. State Party activists are as grass as it gets.
Republicans are going to have problems if national Tea Party groups continue to helicopter in and insist they are the “activist base” and long-term State party activists are not needed or wanted.
Democrats have been rejoicing that since O'Donnell has taken the nomination, her general election numbers show her with a double-digit deficit against Democrat Chris Coons in every poll taken since the primary election, as opposed to the reverse numbers in the alternative universe where Mike Castle won the nomination, and would have easily defeated Coons. What should really concern them is that in the other three races I have discussed—Paul, Miller, & Angle—the far, far-right candidates are either trouncing their Democratic opponent, or, in Angle's case, holding them to a tie.
It has been emotionally satisfying to focus on the whackjobery of each of these very, very conservative Republican nominees. But in this horrible economic climate, I don't believe voters are much interested in hearing the incumbent party dwell on all of their opponents foibles and weird statements. That comes off like the incumbent has nothing to offer of their own. If the Democrats could instead, in each of these contests, focus like a laser on how their opponents' priorities—God, gays, guns, "fascism", Glenn Beck, non-flouridated water—are not the priorities of the state's citizens, they could begin to turn things around. If they can remind the citizens of their communities what their priorities are, and pin the Tea Party down for their total ignorance and lack of interest in these priorities, the Democrats can win.
These far-right Tea Party candidates are not interested in representing the people of the states they are running in. They are fixated on representing a cruel, primitive ideology that is repulsed by the concept of good, effective government. They do not take governing seriously, and the Democrats simply need to call them out on it.
9/16/2010 7:53 PM
Sarah wrote:
I, too, don't understand why Democrats are really rejoicing here. Though I do think the Tea Party candidate is a trend, it's a trend that could last 6 years and be involved in some pretty important legislation. Your idea of focusing on the fact that they don't give a damn about the constituents they are supposedly wanted to represent is great. Hopefully, that's what the Dems will do. Reply to this
9/16/2010 10:55 PM
EZ wrote:
Nice to have you back Mr. Allison. Great post and so dead on. Democrats must consistently and thoroughly remind voters that the last thing they want is a lunatic fringe getting elected and ignoring the needs and wishes of the people they supposedly represent. Reply to this
8/27/2011 2:01 AMMeni Agababayev wrote:
After reading your post I really feel glad because generally on the internet you will find posts with filler content but in your post there was no filler content. I really like your post and I am looking forward for the posts written by you in the future. Reply to this
8/27/2011 2:43 AMGadgets wrote:
Usually I don’t learn article on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very compelled me to try and do it! Your writing style has been amazed me. Thank you, very nice article. Reply to this
9/22/2011 4:18 AMBuy Oak Furniture wrote:
This is one of the highly attractive, informatics, well-written and highly crisp blog that has been explained in fabulous manner to help out reader and visitors. All information found here is genuine and realistic. Reply to this
9/24/2011 2:08 AMCoach Show wrote:
I am really glad to see this post as it has all the useful information about the topic and the best thing of this post is that there is no filler content. I can say that it is one of the outstanding posts, I have seen related to this topic. Reply to this
9/24/2011 2:23 AMBus Show Live wrote:
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently. I am quite sure I will learn many new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next! Reply to this
9/24/2011 2:24 AMBus Events wrote:
Found good piece of information here, You break it down nicely, Thank you for sharing these helpful post it is very interesting and read worthy. Keep these informative post coming! much appreciated!... thanks have a great day Reply to this
9/24/2011 2:26 AMCoach Events wrote:
A good blog always comes-up with new and exciting information and while reading I have feel that this blog is really have all those quality that qualify a blog to be a good one. Reply to this
9/24/2011 2:29 AMCoach Exhibitions wrote:
Nice post. I learn something more challenging on different blogs everyday. It will always be stimulating to read content from other writers and practice a little something from their store. I’d prefer to use some with the content on my blog whether you don’t mind. Natually I’ll give you a link on your web blog. Thanks for sharing. Reply to this
9/24/2011 7:48 AMG Plan wrote:
This blog is a great combination of suitable and useful information and well-written sentences that will certainly entice your sense and update you about new happening. Here I have found the information for which I was looking for long time. Reply to this
9/24/2011 7:52 AMG Plan Furniture wrote:
The principle aim of this blogger is to inform and educate the people regarding products and services and this blog has described everything in the best possible manner. Reply to this
9/24/2011 8:00 AMEkornes wrote:
It is a herculean task to get authentic and informatics blog but this blog seems highly reliable because information available on this blog is very realistic. Reply to this
9/27/2011 2:50 AMAccident kit wrote:
The principle aim of this blogger is to inform and educate the people regarding products and services and this blog has described everything in the best possible manner. Reply to this
9/27/2011 2:51 AMCar accident kit wrote:
If easy and readable sentences and authentic information iscombined together, then blog will certainly amazed you. And this blog has everything including useful information and clear sentences that help reader in understanding and getting information easily. Reply to this
9/27/2011 2:56 AMAuto accident kit wrote:
The best blog always serves information regarding products ad services after making confirmation. Perhaps Blogger is highly knowledgeable that is the reason information that I have read here is genuine and helpful. Reply to this
9/27/2011 2:59 AMAccident report kit wrote:
I have read many blogs and found good and informatics but this blog has simply thrill me with it designs, colour combination and the most important thing real information. I have found only genuine and useful information on this blog. Reply to this
9/27/2011 3:01 AMVehicle accident kit wrote:
This one of the highly realistic and informatics blog I have ever read. Every bit of information that I have read seems very authentic and genuine that has high volume of visitors. Reply to this
10/17/2011 5:53 AMManufacturers In China wrote:
Simple, useful and readable blog is hardly found. But after reading this blog I can only say that this one of the highly informatics blogs that I have ever read. Reply to this
10/17/2011 6:08 AMTheology Courses wrote:
I have read many blogs and found good and informatics but this blog has simply thrill me with it designs, colour combination and the most important thing real information. I have found only genuine and useful information on this blog. Reply to this
10/17/2011 6:23 AMManufacturers In China wrote:
Simple, useful and readable blog is hardly found. But after reading this blog I can only say that this one of the highly informatics blogs that I have ever read. Reply to this
1/27/2012 4:34 AMWedding Dresses wrote:
After reading this post I can say that the writer has done a lot of research and has put all the facts and figures together in his content. It is one of the most credible posts, I have come across. Great job! Reply to this
3/11/2012 11:47 PMFor Sale By Owner wrote:
Thank you for taking the time and spreading this information with all of us. It was really very helpful and informative while being straight forward and to the point Reply to this
3/11/2012 11:56 PMAlbany NY Homes For Sale wrote:
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful piece of information. I must say that while reading your post I found my thoughts in agreement with the topic that you have discussed, which happens very rare. Reply to this
3/12/2012 12:04 AMAlbany Real Estate Lawyer wrote:
This is great information. Folks, listen to this guy. He's very bright and knows what he's talking about. You can't go wrong with following people who can walk the walk - like him. Great information, dude. Just the way I like it! Reply to this
3/12/2012 12:12 AMAlbany Ny New Homes wrote:
You must know popular NFL jerseys,NHL jerseys,NBA jerseys,MLB jerseys, football jerseys,hockey jerseys team if you love sport,love rugger,football and so on.A perfect NFL shop are here.cheap jerseys,cheap NFL jerseys wholesale NFL jerseys are hot touted by people especially for boy love rugger because of well-known NFL jerseys sale team. Reply to this
3/12/2012 12:31 AMFortune 500 Companies wrote:
Thank you for the great post. my site see flashgames site.It would be interestingto see that place realgames,cargames,dressup games,cooking games and flash all games Welcome to my site Come again. Reply to this
3/12/2012 1:14 AMLawn Maintenance Atlanta wrote:
This was a really nice post. In idea I would like to put in writing like this taking time and actual effort to make a very good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and by no means seem to get something done. Reply to this
3/19/2012 6:50 AMLandscaping Austin Tx wrote:
The principle aim of this blogger is to inform and educate the people regarding products and services and this blog has described everything in the best possible manner. Reply to this
4/15/2012 11:18 PMHeat Transfer Press wrote:
All the information on how to get your dream house is there for you on this blog. Take a look and and you will find all that you need to know. Reply to this
4/16/2012 12:02 AMCourier Insurance wrote:
I am so glad this internet thing works and your article really helped me. Might take you up on that home advice you gave. Perhaps a guest appearance would be good. Reply to this
4/27/2012 11:48 PMTravel Belt wrote:
All the information on how to get your dream house is there for you on this blog. Take a look and and you will find all that you need to know. Reply to this
5/2/2012 12:31 AMWeb Design Alpharetta wrote:
The first stage in planning your website Web Design Alpharetta is so simple it is often overlooked: set clear goals of what you want your website to achieve. This could be to generate sales leads, sell products, or anything else you can imagine. Whatever it is, boil it down to a single mission statement. Reply to this
Leave a comment
Copyright . http://TODAYSLIES.COM. All rights reserved.
