Tea Party's Triumph Makes Competence Quaint: Margaret Carlson
By Margaret Carlson - Sep 16, 2010

It’s one thing for a political movement to nominate someone unconventional. It’s quite another to elect someone whom senior Republicans called “delusional,” a bit “nutty” and unelectable even as “dog catcher.”

So hats off and raise a glass to the Tea Party. They really strutted their stuff yesterday in Delaware, nominating Christine O’Donnell, a 41-year-old marketing consultant, for U.S. Senate over Mike Castle, a moderate Republican congressman and former governor. Her victory puts to rest the old saw that you can’t beat somebody with nobody.

The Tea Party swept to victory someone who may have paid rent out of campaign contributions, is vocally against masturbation, had staff check cars and bushes to see if she was being followed and suffers from what Karl Rove politely called a “checkered background.”

She did not, in fact, graduate from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1993, but just this month. She claimed gender discrimination that caused her “mental anguish” in a lawsuit against a former employer, a conservative non-profit, and sought $6.95 million in damages before dropping the case. Her only visible means of support is less than $6,000 she earned last year as a marketing consultant.

The most foolish of her whoppers occurred on a live radio show with a sympathetic host who wouldn’t abide her claim that, as the Republican Senate nominee in 2008, she defeated incumbent Democrat Joe Biden in two Delaware counties. When she countered, like 6-year-old caught in the cookie jar, that she’d only said she’d tied him, the conservative host played the tape that proved her wrong. And she didn’t even tie him. Delaware has three counties, and Biden beat her in each one.

New York Stunner : O’Donnell wasn’t the only stunner last night.

Carl Paladino, a Buffalo millionaire, shocked New York’s Republican establishment with a huge win over Rick Lazio, the former congressman famous for invading Hillary Clinton’s debate space in 2000. Labeled a “wackadoo” by a columnist for the New York Daily News, Paladino, among other wackadoo ideas, proposed turning prisons into homeless shelters for welfare recipients. He was caught forwarding racist and sexist jokes by e-mail.

The question now is what the Republican Party will do. And that depends on which party you’re talking about.

On one side is the party of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and most of all Sarah Palin, seemingly O’Donnell’s long- lost twin, who weighed in with a last-minute endorsement from her Facebook campaign headquarters and via a robocall.

DeMint on Roll

And don’t forget about Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina. O’Donnell’s win solidified DeMint as the king- and queen-maker of this year’s primaries, taking on and beating his own leaders.

On the other side is the party of George Bush I and II, of Ronald Reagan, of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and the Democrats’ new punching bag, House Republican Leader John Boehner, and of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which lost an amazing eight primaries this year. Rove seemed to speak for that faction after O’Donnell’s victory, saying conservatives shouldn’t cheer the nomination of candidates who “do not evince the characteristics of rectitude and sincerity and character.”

But even principled stands against members of your own party can carry risks. On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today, Pat Buchanan recalled that Nelson Rockefeller refused to wear a Barry Goldwater button in 1964, while Richard Nixon campaigned for Goldwater in 40 states. Four years later it was Nixon who became president.

Impact on 2012

Unlike the Christian Right before it, the Tea Party movement doesn’t figure to shimmy its way closer to the Republican establishment. Any romancing will have to be done by the establishment. So watch to see if potential 2012 presidential candidates -- other than Palin, of course -- show up, or don’t, to campaign for O’Donnell. Will DeMint and the Tea Partiers punish those who stay away?

Doing the happy dance today are Democrats, although surely they have to be careful what they wish for.

With O’Donnell on the ticket in Delaware and Paladino in New York, Democrats should have no trouble labeling the entire crop of Republican candidates “extremist.” That word is already being fired by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of the victims of the Tea Party primary revolt.

Barring a miracle, O’Donnell ruins Republicans’ chances of taking over the Senate after the Nov. 2 election. She’s the most outside of the outsiders running.

Angle and Paul

Sharron Angle in Nevada, after all, doesn’t owe back taxes and hasn’t defaulted on her mortgage, as Castle pointed out about O’Donnell in the first negative ad he ever ran. Angle only wants to welcome nuclear waste to the state and abolish departments of our government that oversaw the oil cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico.

O’Donnell likewise outdoes Rand Paul, who merely wonders whether civil-rights laws went too far.

Unlike Angle and Paul, O’Donnell offered few positions in her primary, outside of a general worry about high taxes and high debt and requisite vows to protect the twin sanctities of life and gun ownership.

In most election years the lack of experience or competence is a negative. It seems to be catnip for many voters in this unusual election of 2010.

(Margaret Carlson, author of “Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House” and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Margaret Carlson in Washington at mcarlson3@bloomberg.net

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Apart from the fact that I would put GWB in the Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin/Sean Hannity camp, I think that article is both funny and worrisome. The Americans electorate is not getting any better...

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/shrugs......in a choice between a professional driving the country in the wrong direction, and an amateur driving in the right direction.......we will see what the choice is in November......

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I wonder what excuse the GOP will use for the Nacht der langen Messer when they get around to it?

F

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"Patriotism means being loyal to your country all the time and to its government when it deserves it."-- Mark Twain

"Inter arma silent Musae"--when the weapons speak, the muses fall silent.

An't nanum hearm deth, doth hwaet ye willath.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. -Voltaire

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.36

Ohio Democrats Look to Obama for New Lifeline as Tea Party Momentum Grows
By Lisa Lerer and Patrick O’Connor

While some Democrats distance themselves from President Barack Obama because of his sinking job-approval ratings, U.S. Representative Steve Driehaus of Ohio campaigns as if he were the president’s running mate.

“We elected a coach and a team of players,” Driehaus told a dozen voters -- some wearing Obama presidential campaign pins -- gathered in the backyard of a home in a dense, urban neighborhood on Cincinnati’s west side. “We need to keep the team intact.”

Driehaus and more than a dozen other first-term House Democrats who were swept into Congress on a wave of enthusiasm for Obama in 2008 are in danger of losing their seats to Republicans as voters sour on everything from the economy to the health-care law. In Ohio, some candidates are relying on the White House and the state Democratic Party to recreate the campaign apparatus that boosted Obama to victory two years ago.

Ohio offers a window on competitive races taking place across the U.S., including at the state level. Among the vulnerable freshman Democrats are U.S. Representatives John Boccieri and Mary Jo Kilroy, Governor Ted Strickland and members of the house in Ohio’s general assembly, where the party is also fighting to maintain control.

Obama won the Cincinnati-based First District in 2008 by 11 percentage points and Ohio by 4 points. Now, Organizing for America, his political arm outside the White House, has moved back in, focusing on increasing turnout in the black community, which makes up about 27 percent of the district’s voters.

Help From Choir

It hasn’t been easy: Only a handful of black voters came to a health-care town-hall event hosted by Driehaus amid the rundown pews of a one-room Baptist church earlier this month. Attendance was so sparse that Victoria Parks, the African- American field outreach director for Driehaus, headed to another church across the street to recruit additional participants from a gospel choir practice.

“Change is never easy when you don’t know what tomorrow looks like,” Driehaus told the group.

In a measure of how heated the campaign has become, Driehaus’s office didn’t publicize the talk to avoid attracting demonstrators who routinely show up at health-care-related events. After the law was enacted in March, angry protesters threw a rock through the window of the lawmaker’s Cincinnati office and phoned in a death threat to his Washington office.

No Illusions

Democrats say they have no illusions in a year when Tea Party activists are firing up Republican voters and independents are abandoning their party.

“There is no way in hell we are going to get the 2008 turnout,” said Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party. “What we have to do is get a better-than- normal gubernatorial turnout.”

Republicans and allies in the Tea Party, a movement of activists seeking to rein in the power of the federal government, are counting on the president, too: They say nothing is energizing their voters more than his policies. They’re seeking to turn a surge of anti-Obama energy into votes, holding meetings to recruit volunteers, organizing phone campaigns, and making plans to bus voters to the polls.

Even Driehaus, who embraces the president when he appears before small groups of party faithful, pitches himself as an independent voice for the district in the campaign ads he airs on Cincinnati television.

Republicans Energized

Surveys here, as elsewhere, show Republicans are more engaged. A report by American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate found that in primaries for statewide offices throughout the U.S. through Aug. 28, the average Republican vote exceeded that of the Democrats for the first time in midterms since 1930.

Still, individual efforts, not just broad trends, will help define the outcome of many races. And Ohio’s First District -- which includes the heavily Democratic, low-income neighborhoods of Cincinnati, Catholic working-class suburbs, and Republican exurbs -- is no exception.

Driehaus, 44, is in a rematch with Steve Chabot, the Republican he defeated in 2008 when Obama’s popularity drew more black voters and university students to support the Democrat. In predominantly black precincts, turnout rose an average of 23 percent in 2008 from 2006, according to data analyzed by Gene Beaupre, a political science professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati.

‘Fighting It Out’

Both candidates have deep roots in the southwestern Ohio district, which borders Kentucky and Indiana, even using the colors of their Catholic high schools -- rivals Elder and La Salle -- on campaign signs.

“It’s like two guys on the same block fighting it out,” said Beaupre. “It comes down to a referendum on the Obama Democratic legislative record.”

Chabot, 57, who declared his candidacy less than two months into Driehaus’s term and still refers to the area as “my district,” sees opportunities in Obama’s declining poll numbers.

“With Obama at the top of the ballot, it was a very, very tough year,” he said. “This year, the energy has completely reversed.”

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the contest a tossup.

Chabot links Driehaus to the Democrats’ legislative agenda, citing his votes for the $814 billion economic-stimulus package of 2009 and the health legislation.

Remaking the Riverfront

Driehaus touts the benefits those bills have brought, like the road projects scattered across the highways that ring Cincinnati. The riverfront has turned into a construction site because of about $25 million in stimulus funds the state allocated to The Banks, a 3-million-square-foot complex of apartments, hotels, offices and parks that the city has spent years developing.

Driehaus also promotes his efforts to save the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter backup engine being produced locally by General Electric Co. Obama’s budget would cut the program, costing the region about 1,000 jobs. An ad released by the campaign said Driehaus “stood up to his own party” to keep the program going.

Chabot’s campaign said the Republican helped restore $340 million in federal funding for the engine program in 2006, saving hundreds of jobs.

Tea Party activists have rallied behind Chabot, citing his opposition to the 2008 bank bailout as one reason.

Diverse Economy

Underpinning the political battle is the economy. A diverse economic base has spared Cincinnati some of the pain suffered in cities like Cleveland. Business leaders say they see signs of a wider recovery in a city that’s home to Procter & Gamble Co., Macy’s Inc. and Fifth Third Bancorp. A Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber survey found that 28 percent of businesses plan to expand within the next 18 months, up from 18 percent last year.

At the same time, unemployment in the metropolitan area was 9.8 percent in July, compared with August’s national rate of 9.6 percent. Home sales nosedived 35 percent in July, according to the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors. And one of every 421 houses in Hamilton County was in foreclosure, a 17 percent increase from June, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

“The jobs are just hemorrhaging,” said Melanie Newstate, a Democrat who lost her employment as an accounting contractor several months ago.

Republicans also spent much of the summer targeting likely supporters and are encouraging them to cast absentee ballots. Volunteers contacted 70,000 voters in a single day, said Jason Mauk, executive director of the Ohio Republican Party.

Mauk said Democrats’ organizational prowess won’t overcome voter discontent. He has some experience: In 2006, Mauk was touting the party’s voter-turnout operation to a reporter a few days before Strickland beat Republican Ken Blackwell by more than 20 percentage points.

“It was really the only thing we had left to promote,” Mauk said. “This is all they have left to spin. We’ve been where they are.”

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Originally Posted by PostmodernProphet

/shrugs......in a choice between a professional driving the country in the wrong direction, and an amateur driving in the right direction...

The point is that they are not just amateurs: Christine O’Donnell, so far, seems to have misappropriated campaign funds and definitely lied about her record... You think these are good signs as to her integrity?

Let's not even go into the "against masturbation" stuff. I mean. WTF?!

And, personally, I think it's amazing that Republicans keep falling for the anti-gvt/take back Washington/get heard message. IIRC, GWB was elected on that ticket. A whole of good it did to the US federal debt levels or federal gvt organisational quality (FEMA etc)...

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Rupert Cornwell: This civil war spells only bad news for the US in the long term

The US faces huge challenges best settled by compromise and bipartisanship. These are anathema to the Tea Party

Thursday, 16 September 2010


The Republican Party has got what it asked for: civil war. That is the main message of the US primary season which wrapped up this week, and it may be very good news for the Democrats in the short term. But it is very bad news for America in the longer term.

Primaries, when voters choose each party's candidate for the general election, normally pass virtually unnoticed in a non-presidential year. They tend to be a hodge-podge of local contests, with no discernable national pattern, the feeblest of curtain-raisers for the main event on the first Tuesday in November. Not however in this year of America's discontent, 2010.

Christine O'Donnell's shock victory in the Republican Senate primary in Delaware is but the most spectacular success of the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement in its challenge to an establishment that has lost control of the party.

But for this debacle, the Republican leadership has only itself to blame. Since President Obama took office in January 2009, backed by solid Democratic majorities on Capitol Hill, the Republican response has consisted of a single word: No. It has done its utmost to block every piece of legislation Democrats have brought forward, and offered no ideas of its own. Up to a point, the tactics have worked. At mid-term elections, voters almost always let off steam, punishing the party in power. This year, given their frustration and anger over the struggling economy and high unemployment, they will do so more than ever.

But the absence of policy has created a Republican vacuum into which the Tea Party, egged on by Sarah Palin and its cheerleaders on Fox News, has moved. The party leadership calculated that the voter enthusiasm generated by the Tea Party tiger would work to its advantage. Now that establishment risks being devoured by it.

Understandably, Democrats are chortling. The party still faces its worst mid-term drubbing since 1994 (when resurgent Congressional Republicans under Newt Gingrich offered a specific platform they called a "Contract with America".) But while the House of Representatives may be lost, the betting is that Democrats will hang on to the Senate – not least due to Ms O'Donnell, whom even Republican strategists admit is too right-wing for voters in a seat Democrats had all but written off.

A divided opposition is also good news for President Obama in 2012. A weak potential Republican field suddenly looks even weaker. Likely candidates like Mitt Romney have kept an embarrassed silence; unchallenged, the antics of Ms Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck et al are more likely to scare wavering voters back to the Democratic fold.

The biggest damage however will be to the good governance of America. The country faces huge structural challenges – reducing the deficit, reshaping energy policy and seeing through healthcare reform to name but three. In the end, under the finely calibrated US political system, such challenges are best settled by compromise and bipartisanship.

But compromise and a readiness to work with Democrats are anathema to the Tea Party. Whatever happens in November, the movement's successes will have convinced incumbent Republicans that safety lies in intransigence. For proof, look no further than John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate once renowned for his willingness to break party ranks, but who veered sharply to the right to beat off a challenge from the right in the primary for his Arizona senate seat last month.

Moderate Republicans were already a vanishing breed in Washington. The 2010 primaries threaten to condemn them to extinction, and America will be the loser.

Rupert Cornwell: This civil war spells only bad news for the US in the long term - Rupert Cornwell, Commentators - The Independent

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As previously, I think the conventional wisdom that a shift to the "extremes" by your opposition is good for you is very shoirtsighted. What it does is move the centre ground in that direction. Democrats should not be crowing, even if they the do gain ground - or lose less than the might have - in the next election.

I read an interesting article making the point that the POTUS is constitutionally strong on foreign matters and weak on internal ones.

Here, partly because of the crisis and partly by temperament, Obama is concentrating on internal affairs. On top, the foreign ones offer him little: Iraq turned out somewhat better than he said it would. Afghanistan, the "just" war, the war "of necessity" is, to say the least, a drag. No quick political win there.

Thus, he is forced to fight political battles in a field where he is structurally weaker. He's got no authority but he will be considered responsible.

In other way, he's fucked. And so is America coz they don't seem to be able to find a way to reform themselves.

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Originally Posted by FredFredson

I wonder what excuse the GOP will use for the Nacht der langen Messer when they get around to it? F

wow, that's pretty much the dumbest thing I've ever seen you post......it's not every day you come across looking like a total idiot....

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Originally Posted by Gilles de Rais

The point is that they are not just amateurs: Christine O’Donnell, so far, seems to have misappropriated campaign funds and definitely lied about her record... You think these are good signs as to her integrity?

I haven't looked into it closely, because I don't vote in that state.....from what I have seen on the news so far, at least Karl Rove lied about her record, as did Castle......so yeah, I'd pick her over them......and I would obviously pick her over the "integrity" of any democrat you'd care to mention.......

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Quote:

But for this debacle, the Republican leadership has only itself to blame. Since President Obama took office in January 2009, backed by solid Democratic majorities on Capitol Hill, the Republican response has consisted of a single word: No. It has done its utmost to block every piece of legislation Democrats have brought forward, and offered no ideas of its own. Up to a point, the tactics have worked. At mid-term elections, voters almost always let off steam, punishing the party in power. This year, given their frustration and anger over the struggling economy and high unemployment, they will do so more than ever.

this is from Contra's article.....I can't imagine anyone being so far off the mark.....the reason the establishment Republicans are getting beaten in the primaries isn't because they said NO to Obama, it's because they didn't say NO to themselves during the Bush administration..........

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....attached to sanity by a bungee cord.....