The results of the off year election yesterday in New Jersey and Virginia demonstrate a defeat for the Tea Party Movement, and the beginning of the civil war in the Republican Party for its soul!
Chris Christie became the front runner for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2016, as a result of his smashing victory over Barbara Buono, the Democratic nominee, for Governor. Christie attracted Democrats, Independents, and Latinos, something no Tea Party advocate could accomplish, and he has become, clearly, the “establishment” choice for now in the Republican Party.
Meanwhile, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who appealed to the Tea Party Movement, and came out with outrageous stands on interference with sexual privacy, abortion, and global warming, and was also involved in a financial scandal that also undermined Governor Bob McDonnell, lost to Terry McAuliffe, backed by Bill and Hillary Clinton, who he had raised money for in the 1990s. Cuccinelli’s “Puritan” and anti science views caused women, in particular, to vote against him, making clear that if the GOP continues its “war on women” and their rights, they will be slaughtered in Congressional races in 2014 and the Presidential race in 2016.
Before anyone gets too excited about Christie, though, one must realize that the New Jersey Governor is a definite conservative on the issues–health care, education, labor unions, abortion—and he gained most of his support from his reaction to Superstorm Sandy a year ago, including his willingness to work with President Obama directly.
That will be his Achilles heel, however, in GOP primaries and caucuses, as he competes against right wingers such as Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan, and there is no guarantee that Christie will survive bruising, bloody primary and caucus fights.
But even if, somehow, he does make it through to the nomination, do not forget that Chris Christie has a short fuse; is highly temperamental when he does not like what one is saying, or opposes him; is still what this author said in the past (a bully); a man who could cause war with his bluntness, as he lacks all diplomacy and tact; and there are hints of corruption and inappropriate actions in his past record, and even some supposed connections to the Mafia.
One can be sure that ALL leads will be followed, and that Christie, who caused “red flags’ for Mitt Romney, making the 2012 GOP nominee pass Christie by for Vice President, will be fully vetted, and it could destroy any hopes he has for the Presidency.
To believe that Chris Christie will be the next President still means one has to be delusional. By comparison, he might be seen as “better” than Cruz, Paul, Rubio, Ryan and others, but ONLY by comparison, nothing more than that!
From this Republican, “Viva la Revolution!! Let the wing nut purging begin.”
After they are thrown out of the Party, I wonder what Party affiliation “Know Nothing Davy”, and “What Ever Name he goes by today”, will claim to be part of.
Rush needs to go.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/11/06/rush-go-limbaugh-claims-democrats-turned-women-abortion-machines.html
“I have always been puzzled by the inability of some political and media types to understand exactly what is meant by adherence to political principle. All too often in the press and the television evening news it is treated as a call for “ideological purity.” Whatever ideology may mean — and it seems to mean a variety of things, depending upon who is using it — it always conjures up in my mind a picture of a rigid, irrational clinging to abstract theory in the face of reality. We have to recognize that in this country “ideology” is a scare word. And for good reason. Marxist-Leninism is, to give but one example, an ideology. All the facts of the real world have to be fitted to the Procrustean bed of Marx and Lenin. If the facts don’t happen to fit the ideology, the facts are chopped off and discarded.
I consider this to be the complete opposite to principled conservatism. If there is any political viewpoint in this world which is free from slavish adherence to abstraction, it is American conservatism.
When a conservative states that the free market is the best mechanism ever devised by the mind of man to meet material needs, he is merely stating what a careful examination of the real world has told him is the truth.
When a conservative says that totalitarian Communism is an absolute enemy of human freedom he is not theorizing — he is reporting the ugly reality captured so unforgettably in the writings of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
When a conservative says it is bad for the government to spend more than it takes in, he is simply showing the same common sense that tells him to come in out of the rain.
When a conservative says that busing does not work, he is not appealing to some theory of education — he is merely reporting what he has seen down at the local school.
When a conservative quotes Jefferson that government that is closest to the people is best, it is because he knows that Jefferson risked his life, his fortune and his sacred honor to make certain that what he and his fellow patriots learned from experience was not crushed by an ideology of empire.
Conservatism is the antithesis of the kind of ideological fanaticism that has brought so much horror and destruction to the world. The common sense and common decency of ordinary men and women, working out their own lives in their own way — this is the heart of American conservatism today. Conservative wisdom and principles are derived from willingness to learn, not just from what is going on now, but from what has happened before.
The principles of conservatism are sound because they are based on what men and women have discovered through experience in not just one generation or a dozen, but in all the combined experience of mankind. When we conservatives say that we know something about political affairs, and that we know can be stated as principles, we are saying that the principles we hold dear are those that have been found, through experience, to be ultimately beneficial for individuals, for families, for communities and for nations — found through the often bitter testing of pain, or sacrifice and sorrow.”
Ronald Reagan 1977
The Republican establishment never learns…
“Let us lay to rest, once and for all, the myth of a small group of ideological purists trying to capture a majority. Replace it with the reality of a majority trying to assert its rights against the tyranny of powerful academics, fashionable left-revolutionaries, some economic illiterates who happen to hold elective office and the social engineers who dominate the dialogue and set the format in political and social affairs. If there is any ideological fanaticism in American political life, it is to be found among the enemies of freedom on the left or right — those who would sacrifice principle to theory, those who worship only the god of political, social and economic abstractions, ignoring the realities of everyday life. They are not conservatives.” Ronald Reagan 1977
Sound familiar???
“Our first job is to get this message across to those who share most of our principles. If we allow ourselves to be portrayed as ideological shock troops without correcting this error we are doing ourselves and our cause a disservice. Wherever and whenever we can, we should gently but firmly correct our political and media friends who have been perpetuating the myth of conservatism as a narrow ideology. Whatever the word may have meant in the past, today conservatism means principles evolving from experience and a belief in change when necessary, but not just for the sake of change.” Ronald Reagan 1977
Rush Limbaugh promotes hate, prejudice, poison, and enriches himself on dividing the American people. I agree it is time for him to be taken off the air, along with others who promote racism and misogyny.
Virginia elections:
In 2008: Obama obtained 6% advantage over Republican establishment backed moderate “the only candidate that can win” John McCain.
In 2012: Obama obtained a 3 % advantage over Republican establishment backed moderate “the only candidate that can win” Mitt Romney.
In 2013 McAuliffe obtained less than 2.4% advantage over Reagan conservative “can never win independents” candidate Ken Cuccinelli in a 3 way race where the liberal bundler backed “libertarian plant” Robert Sarvis took away 6% from Cuccinelli.
So a conservative candidate, than was abandoned by the Republican establishment (establishment that spent 4 times more money 4 years in the last Gubernatorial election in Virginia than this year) and was out spend by $15 million by the Democrat, barely finishes behind by less than 2.5%. And conservatives are supposed to feel everything is lost? How so?
The Reagan conservative extremist Tea Party candidate Ken Cuccinelli won the independent vote by 9% in Virginia.How could that be?
When we Virginia voters rejected Cuccinelli, we wisely rejected the Koch brothers, the NRA, dirty fossil fuels, and climate change denial, but we also wisely rejected attacks on gays, free speech, women’s rights, and the idea that the bible is the law of the land. What a relief to know I won’t be living in a state about to be governed & destroyed by a Tea Party Extremist. 🙂
Dear GOP
Wake up and smell the coffee. We are sick and tired of being forced to sip your bitter tea.
Sincerely,
America’s citizens
Great summary, Jane Doe!
Yet, if it were not for the libertarian plant and the Republican Party establishment that rejects its base, Cuccinelli would have won. In spite of all the liberal lies, 2 weeks of media blackout and $15 million difference in spending, Cuccinelli only lost by less than 2.5%. The truth is that over 50% of Virginia voters rejected the liberal democrat Obama agenda. It’s just a matter of time.
LOL! If they had rejected the “liberal democrat Obama agenda” then Cuccinelli would have won. He didn’t, so get over it.
I agree Rustbelt. He needs to get over it.
Great post Jane Doe. It’s exactly as you said.
Some reading education for him:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/11/05/2873211/mcauliffes-victory-progressive/
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/11/05/2888221/cuccinelli-defeat-wing-record/
Per this article, the changing demographics are a factor into Cuccinelli’s loss.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/virginia-isn-t-the-place-ken-cuccinelli-thinks-it-is-20130925
Exactly Rustbelt! Virginia, like the rest of the nation, is becoming more diverse, spelling doom for the GOTea. With this diversity, it’s no coincidence that Virginia has shifted from deep red to solidly purple.
Some more demographic info for Matt’s reading education:
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/11/06/bad-news-republicans-the-youth-vote-grew-2013-voted-democrats.html
Matt writes,
“Yet, if it were not for the libertarian plant and the Republican Party establishment that rejects its base, Cuccinelli would have won. In spite of all the liberal lies, 2 weeks of media blackout and $15 million difference in spending, Cuccinelli only lost by less than 2.5%. The truth is that over 50% of Virginia voters rejected the liberal democrat Obama agenda. It’s just a matter of time.”
Ah, yes, but even more that that 50 percent rejected the woman- and fellatio-hating freak who was the official nominee of the Republican party for Governor of Virginia.
Another way you can look at margins is this: Bob McDonnell won as a Republican pickup, in 2009, by R+17.36.
Ken Cuccinelli failed to hold that margin.
By the way: If it wasn’t noted here already, this marks the first time since 1973 that Virginia has elected a governor from the same party as the incumbent president of the United States. Ken Cuccinelli helped make that possible. Make sure to thank him for that, Matt.
Great comments, D, and the several ladies–give it to Matt, even though the truth hurts!
Sarvis did not cost Cuccinelli the race.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/11/07/robert-sarvis-didnt-cost-ken-cuccinelli-the-virginia-governors-race/
Map of how McAuliffe won.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/11/06/how-terry-mcauliffe-won-in-1-map/
Jane Doe thanks for that map.
Larry Sabato, from University of Virginia, has a report which also provides a map of the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial vote.
I’ll provide two links.
@ http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/the-surprisingly-dramatic-terry-ken-show/
@ http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/content/images//LJS2013110701-map2%20(large).png