Clarice at Tom Maguire's blog may have saved some lives tonight with the following advice:
Whatever...Let's follow Rush's advice--Don't drink every time an announcer says, "This is not a referendum on Obama," because you'll die of alcohol poisoning if you do.
E J Dionne was spinning a variety of theories around that point this morning. The results of tonight's elections in Kentucky are simply part of the anti Obama chorus that began singing after the Democratic disasters in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. It's all about Obama because, if for no other reason, voters have been subjected to a campaign of All Obama All The Time during 2009 and 2010. The ubiquitous finger pointing, lecturing judge / professor of everyone from the Cambridge Police Department to British Petroleum is being exposed by voters in election after election as a boorish mountebank. After the pomp and circumstance of the 2008 campaign voters began to understand something we began discussing at Wizbang after Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid so easily rolled the President elect with the Stimulus Bill: there is no there "there" with Barack Obama. He's the Chauncey Gardiner President, only now with an attitude.
When a political outlier like Rand Paul crushes an opponent (Trey Grayson) personally endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by over twenty points in Kentucky there is a lot more than anti incumbency at work. Politico is reporting that Paul tapped into voter anger but demures from identifying the specific object of that anger: Barack Hussein Obama. Voters in Kentucky are reaffirming what motivated voters in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts. They have seen the real Barack Obama, as opposed to the Potemkin Obama presented to them in 2008, and rejected him. Barack Obama may become the singularly most unpopular President since Andrew Johnson. After tonight's carnage, expect Democratic Congressional incumbents to flee from his presence.
Comments (9)
I'm sure Lee Ward will say ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by GarandFan | May 18, 2010 9:18 PM | Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
I'm sure Lee Ward will say that they're all a bunch of "unenlightened, bigoted, redneck, gun-toting, bible-thumping RACISTS!"
Right Lee?
1. Posted by GarandFan | May 18, 2010 9:18 PM |
Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Posted on May 18, 2010 21:18
2. Posted by Jim Addison | May 18, 2010 9:25 PM | Score: 2 (6 votes cast)
Rand Paul certainly tapped into the right message, and Trey Grayson ran one of the worst campaigns imaginable in a Republican primary (defending farm subsidies and earmarked pork).
Unfortunately, the campaign did not delve very deeply into Paul's views on foreign policy and national security - he made literally hundreds of speeches endorsing his Daddy's isolationist views. He has seemed to repudiate them, but it didn't take much for most people to accept that. I'll wait and see how he votes on Defense budgets, and see if he is as big a liar as Daddy (who is one of the top Republican earmarkers in the House, but after ensuring his pork is in and the bill will pass, votes "NO" so he can claim to be anti-spending).
Another pretty crazy idea he's touched upon is abolishing the Federal Reserve. Not to say there are not problems with the FRB, but they are not the sort of problems which can be solved by more congressional involvement through phony "audits" which really are only an excuse to micromanage by political badgering - the same process which has made Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into the pillars of financial stability they are today. Great idea!
Or better yet, abolish the Fed and let Congress control the money supply . . . yeah, that's the ticket to monetary sanity, all right!
2. Posted by Jim Addison | May 18, 2010 9:25 PM |
Score: 2 (6 votes cast)
Posted on May 18, 2010 21:25
3. Posted by dsc | May 18, 2010 9:30 PM | Score: -7 (11 votes cast)
I'm trying to figure out how the GOP primary results will make Dem candidates flee from Obama.
And this Tea Party effect on the GOP primaries might turn out to be like the Evangelical Christian effect in the past - leading to defeats in the general election to more centrist (by comparison) Democrat candidates.
3. Posted by dsc | May 18, 2010 9:30 PM |
Score: -7 (11 votes cast)
Posted on May 18, 2010 21:30
4. Posted by HughS | May 18, 2010 9:44 PM | Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Jim
Do you think a junior Senator from KY is going to abolish the Fed or propose to let Congress control the money supply?
I agree with your concerns about Ron Paul (Daddy) but the alternative is a Democrat (probably Conway, who is ultra liberal) in a seat held by Republicans for decades. Do you really think that is a better outcome?
Grayson was a RINO. Do we need more RINO'S or recalcitrant Republicans that a party whip can influence?
4. Posted by HughS | May 18, 2010 9:44 PM |
Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Posted on May 18, 2010 21:44
5. Posted by fustian | May 18, 2010 10:27 PM | Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
Thinking about Dionne spinning reminds me of the recent claims that big Dem losses in the House will strengthen Pelosi since all those nasty moderate democrats will be gone.
Because, there's nothing that increases a speaker's power more than losing lots and lots of votes. I bet she can't wait. I know I can't.
5. Posted by fustian | May 18, 2010 10:27 PM |
Score: 8 (8 votes cast)
Posted on May 18, 2010 22:27
6. Posted by kathie | May 18, 2010 10:27 PM | Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
Who could support a man who said this, Pearl's Beheading 'Captured the Imagination of People Around the World.' The epitome of an empty soul.
6. Posted by kathie | May 18, 2010 10:27 PM |
Score: 7 (7 votes cast)
Posted on May 18, 2010 22:27
7. Posted by 914 | May 18, 2010 10:34 PM | Score: 3 (7 votes cast)
Who could support a lib who spewed this, "Historic thrashing of the united threat."
The epitome of an empty troll.
7. Posted by 914 | May 18, 2010 10:34 PM |
Score: 3 (7 votes cast)
Posted on May 18, 2010 22:34
8. Posted by John S | May 18, 2010 10:58 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
The 100 seat bloodbath is shaping up nicely. Wait until the European disaster goes worldwide (check the Asian markets as I type) and the U.S. economy goes into a disasterous double dip in time for the midterm election. It's time to vote out all incumbents both Dems and the GOP.
8. Posted by John S | May 18, 2010 10:58 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on May 18, 2010 22:58
9. Posted by 914 | May 18, 2010 11:02 PM | Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
dsc-
"I'm trying to figure out how the GOP primary results will make Dem candidates flee from Obama."
They want their do nothing jobs left alone just like his?
9. Posted by 914 | May 18, 2010 11:02 PM |
Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
Posted on May 18, 2010 23:02