Day: October 24, 2010

Conventional Wisdom On Incumbents Being In Trouble May Be Wrong!

It has been said that this is the year that incumbents will lose seats in Congress on a large scale, but at least in the primaries, it turns out that only SEVEN incumbents have lost, which means more than 98 percent of all incumbents have won renomination!

Of course, Election Day in November could see a massive wave of incumbents losing to their challengers, but at least so far, that is NOT the trend!

Three Senators–Robert Bennett of Utah, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska,–have lost renomination, but Murkowski is running a write in campaign and is seen as running evenly with the person who defeated her in the primary–Joe Miller–, and has a good chance of being only the second person to win a Senate seat by write in votes, after Strom Thurmond of South Carolina in 1954!

Four Congressmen have lost–Parker Griffith of Alabama, Bob Inglis of South Carolina, Alan Mollohan of West Virginia, and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan! This is about average in any congressional election year, occurring every even year. And this round, the losers are three Democrats and four Republicans!

So standard thoughts may just be such, and not be the action of the electorate in November! Again, we shall see, very soon!

Newsweek Poll Shows Turnaround On Support Of Obama And Democrats!

With nine days to go to the midterm elections of 2010, suddenly a Newsweek poll shows a revival of support for Barack Obama and newly emerging enthusiasm for the Democrats! 🙂

Obama’s public opinion ratings have surged to 54 percent from the low 40s, and the generic congressional ballot shows a lead of 48 to 42 for Democrats over Republicans!

Among those who have voted early, the Democrats lead the GOP 52-42, and is evidence that Democrats may have finally reacted to the message of President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and former President Bill Clinton–that this is not an election to sit out, and allow those who brought us the Great Recession to regain control of the national government!

There are increasing signs of women, Latinos, African Americans, and young people–all of whom made a difference in 2008–starting to commit themselves to vote this year, and those are good signs for the Democrats in a very difficult economic climate!

While anything is possible next week, it may be that Yogi Berra, the Hall of Fame Yankee catcher, may be correct when he uttered: “It ain’t over till it’s over!”

Will Bill Clinton Be The Savior Of The Democratic Party?

Former President Bill Clinton, riding on a popular public opinion wave of more than 60 percent, has become the number one weapon of the Democratic Party as it tries to hold on to its majority in both houses of Congress in next week’s midterm elections!

Clinton is doing more campaigning around the country than anyone, and showing up in places in the South and Midwest where Barack Obama would be unlikely to have much impact, were he to campaign there for members and candidates in both houses of Congress.

Clinton brings a sense of good will, and a message: 21 months is not enough time to resolve issues, so give us a full four years to deal with the economic crisis before judging us and deciding to put back in power the people who brought you into the Great Recession!

This is a message that may resonate with voters, and already, there are indications that the so called “enthusiasm gap” may be narrowing, and that Democrats and independents may very well do much better than was expected a few weeks ago!

So if it all works out, we will have to salute former President Bill Clinton as the “savior” of the Democratic Party! 🙂

Virginia Reasserts Confederate History Myths On Eve Of 150th Anniversary Of Beginning Of The Civil War! :(

Next April will mark the 150th Anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, and unfortunately, the Commonwealth of Virginia is actively working to promote a myth about that war: that slavery was not a major cause of the war, and that thousands of African American slaves fought for the Confederacy to promote and protect “homes and livelihood”! 🙁

First, Governor Robert McDonnell introduced Confederate History Month last April without mentioning the role of slavery in the Civil War.

Now it has been discovered that a 4th grade textbook in Virginia public schools includes a statement that says black Confederate soldiers in the thousands fought for the South in the Civil War, including two battalions under the leadership of General Stonewall Jackson!

These statements are totally false, and were based on an internet search which utilized assertions by a group called the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which has spread that rumor which has no basis in fact!

The Virginia Education Department did a poor job of vetting this textbook, and the fact that in the year 2010 we are having distorted history being promoted by the Governor and by the Education Department of the state of Virginia is indeed, very troubling, and should be condemned!

It is alarming that the South is continuing to promote a view long repudiated, and that what Southern Democrats used to do, uphold racism and discrimination, is now being promoted by Southern Republicans–a far cry from the honorable Republican party of Abraham Lincoln which upheld racial equality, freed the slaves, and promoted black citizenship and voting rights at the birth of the GOP!

More Republican Hypocrisy: Attack Stimulus But Work To Gain Stimulus Funds! :(

Republicans voted against the Economic Stimulus legislation in February 2009, and are using it as an issue against the Democrats and President Obama in the midterm elections, but yet they have worked to gain stimulus funds for their districts and states! 🙁

What total hypocrisy this is!

Among those who have done so are:

Senator John McCain of Arizona
Congressman Ron Paul of Texas
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota
Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana

So, in other words, campaign against stimulus funds and “earmarks”, but put your hand out and ask for funds to do exactly what you are working against! 🙁

How can anyone believe anything the GOP campaigns about? Can anyone honestly expect that a Republican Congress will NOT promote “earmarks” and stimulus spending if they feel it is to their benefit?

So the Republicans are saying: “Listen to what I say, not what I do!” Hypocrisy to the extreme, which should NOT be rewarded at the polls nine days from now! 🙁