AN ELECTION THAT THE REPUBLICANS NEEDED TO LOSE GOOD LUCK OBAMA
By DICK MORRIS
Published on TheHill.com on November 5, 2008
If ever there was an election that was not worth winning, it was the contest of 2008. While it was hard-fought on both sides, had McCain won, it might have spelled the end of the Republican Party. As it is, the party is well-situated to come back in 2010 and in 2012, if it learns the lessons of this year.
Simply put, all hell is about to break loose in the markets and the economy. The mortgage crisis will likely be followed by defaults in credit card debt, student loans and car loans. We will probably be set for two years of zero growth, according to economists with whom I talk. And the federal efforts to protect the nation from the worst of the recession will probably lead to huge budget deficits and resulting inflation. We are in for stagflation that could last for years.
Had McCain won, he would be the latter-day Hoover, blamed for the disaster that unfolded on his watch. Now it is Obamas problem. With the Republicans suffering a wipeout in congressional elections (although not as bad as they feared), the ball is now squarely in the Democratic court. Good luck!
If Obama raises taxes, the situation could get even worse. With a liberal Congress on his hands, he will be constrained to move to the left, if he needs any pushing. When Clinton was elected in 1992, the Democrats in control of Congress gave him a clear message: Either you govern within the four walls of the Democratic caucus or you wont get our support. Crossing the aisle to get Republican votes, even including the GOP in negotiations, was a no-no for which the president would pay dearly if he transgressed.
The result was predictable. Moderate initiatives like welfare reform were scrapped, the Congress passed tax hikes and legislation became festooned with liberal amendments. Faced with the need to round up every last vote in the Senate and House Democratic caucuses, Clinton had no choice but to load up conservative bills like an anti-crime measure with liberal pork (like a provision for midnight basketball courts in urban areas) to get unanimous caucus backing.
Obama will have to move left to appease his caucus. He will become their hostage, and they his jailers.
This dynamic will produce extreme-left-wing governance, which the Republicans can blame for the continuation of the recession and for any worsening. The party will recover, fed by anger at Obamas policies, and will emerge from this defeat stronger than ever.
But the Republicans must learn the lesson of MoveOn.org. Founded in the bleak days of the Clinton impeachment, MoveOn developed a grassroots Internet base. Building up its e-list of activists and contributors, MoveOn laid the basis for the incredible Internet appeal of the Obama campaign. At last count, Obama has 4.5 million donors, most online.
Conservatives cannot count on the Republican Party to fight their battles for them, and certainly cannot count on them to win. The right needs to develop cyber-roots conservative organizations to rival the power of groups like MoveOn.org. The stellar efforts of NewsMax.com and its ally, GOPtrust.com, illustrate the power of such efforts. Together, these groups raised $10 million for an independent expenditure on media in swing states featuring the Rev. Jeremiah Wrights anti-American bombast.
And their efforts worked.
Virtually all the polls agreed that Obama would win 52-53 percent of the vote, but the surveys varied in the amount of undecideds they found. On Election Day, virtually every undecided voter went to McCain, and Obamas final vote share was no more and no less than the 52-53 percent the surveys had predicted. This unanimity among undecided voters is attributable to the endgame of groups like GOPtrust.com and NewsMax.com.
These groups have to lead the way in running media to battle against the leftist legislation that will undoubtedly emanate from the Obama administration and the liberal Congress America has just elected. Then they can become the basis for a Republican resurgence, just as MoveOn.org was this year for the Democrats.
I love that RR pic Zip. He was such a handsome man. By chance did you ever read his book, Love, Ron I think was the name. It was his personal notes to Nancy and her impressions. It was so sweet.
That the best picture Google had!! The rest were cakes, which we already have.![]()
That's so true. They're over there sweating out cabinet appointees and trying to figure out which axle of the bus Palin is currently under.We get to be the cool kids who sit in the back, pass notes, and blow spitballs.
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I'm in tears and in shock. A person I used to think was a friend of mine on a small message board I belong to just told me the reason I think new Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is a dirty, lowdown politician is because he's Jewish. AKA I'm an anti-Semite.![]()
One of the main problems I have with Obama is I don't think he will support Israel at all. I have spent many years trying to promote pro-Israeli policies. I have many Jewish friends who have told me their stories of anti-Semitism they experienced. I've sat with them as they've cried about things said and done to them. I don't even refer to members of the Jewish religion as Jewish, I call them "my Jewish brothers and sisters." And yet now because I disagree with Obama, because I think Emanuel is a jerk, I'm an anti-Semite.
So I guess racist isn't the only word the sheeple will throw out at dissenters.
My blood pressure is up so high right now, I feel like I might pass out.![]()
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Alas, this thread can be addictive -perhaps even therapeutic.
Oh, my goodness.....they put the crap right in with the cracker!
Thanks everyone. My hands are still shaking, and I'm still crying. No one has ever called me that. Ever. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that some people can be so hateful, but I'm a sensitive person and this hurts big time.
I'd have to agree with this. She hates Sarah Palin. Not just disagrees/dislikes her policies, but hates her with a rabid passion and trashes her every chance she gets. She had been ranting about how Sarah will never be President because we can't have "some religious nut running the country." I asked her to tell me what Sarah did to impose her views on others. I had posted earlier about Emanuel. She responds with "Well, her religion is all she's about. She can go be a preacher." Again, no response to the question, no specifics, just a general negative comment. I listed examples of how she didn't impose her views, such as by signing the GLBT couples benefits law into existence, rather than vetoeing it and/or fighting it. And the grand comeback was I'm an anti-Semite for criticizing Emanuel. Tell me where the logic is in that? Then she added a comment that it'd be great to have a female President, but not one who names their children after snowmobile parts.
So, I'm sitting here asking myself: Who's the self-righteous, intolerant one here?![]()
Thanks everyone. My hands are still shaking, and I'm still crying. No one has ever called me that. Ever. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that some people can be so hateful, but I'm a sensitive person and this hurts big time.
I'd have to agree with this. She hates Sarah Palin. Not just disagrees/dislikes her policies, but hates her with a rabid passion and trashes her every chance she gets. She had been ranting about how Sarah will never be President because we can't have "some religious nut running the country." I asked her to tell me what Sarah did to impose her views on others. I had posted earlier about Emanuel. She responds with "Well, her religion is all she's about. She can go be a preacher." Again, no response to the question, no specifics, just a general negative comment. I listed examples of how she didn't impose her views, such as by signing the GLBT couples benefits law into existence, rather than vetoeing it and/or fighting it. And the grand comeback was I'm an anti-Semite for criticizing Emanuel. Tell me where the logic is in that? Then she added a comment that it'd be great to have a female President, but not one who names their children after snowmobile parts.
So, I'm sitting here asking myself: Who's the self-righteous, intolerant one here?![]()
Thanks everyone. My hands are still shaking, and I'm still crying. No one has ever called me that. Ever. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that some people can be so hateful, but I'm a sensitive person and this hurts big time.
I'd have to agree with this. She hates Sarah Palin. Not just disagrees/dislikes her policies, but hates her with a rabid passion and trashes her every chance she gets. She had been ranting about how Sarah will never be President because we can't have "some religious nut running the country." I asked her to tell me what Sarah did to impose her views on others. I had posted earlier about Emanuel. She responds with "Well, her religion is all she's about. She can go be a preacher." Again, no response to the question, no specifics, just a general negative comment. I listed examples of how she didn't impose her views, such as by signing the GLBT couples benefits law into existence, rather than vetoeing it and/or fighting it. And the grand comeback was I'm an anti-Semite for criticizing Emanuel. Tell me where the logic is in that?
Then she added a comment that it'd be great to have a female President, but not one who names their children after snowmobile parts.
So, I'm sitting here asking myself: Who's the self-righteous, intolerant one here?![]()
Whether she'll ever admit it, she knows her arguments are based on nothing and I'd sure hate to the one debating you, SD!! You're amazing!! I just hate she lashed out at you so personally...
Here's Charlie Rose again who spoke to both Evan Thomas and Jon Meacham of Newsweek magazine. Meacham added this to what you just heard.[about H's link to Saul Alinsky]
MEACHAM: He's very elusive, Obama, which is fascinating for a man who's written two memoirs. At Grant Park he walks out with the family, and then they go away.
ROSE: Mmm. Mmm-hmm.
MEACHAM: Biden's back, you know, locked in the bar or something.
ROSE: (haughty chuckle)
MEACHAM: You know, they don't let him out. And have you ever seen a victory speech where there was no one else on stage?
ROSE: Mmm.
MEACHAM: No adoring wife, no cute kid. He is the messenger.
THOMAS: There is a slightly creepy cult of personality about all this. I mean, he's such an admirable --
ROSE: Slightly. Creepy. Cult of personality.
THOMAS: Yes.
ROSE: What's slightly creepy about it?
THOMAS: It -- it -- it just makes me a little uneasy that he's so singular. He's clearly managing his own spectacle. He's a deeply manipulative guy.
First of all, Soarin - we're on in January. Just tell me when and where [then tell me how to get there!] And, Blestmom, we only get to have one Dole Whip together!?!?!?? Not a Mickey head, too?!?!??
I thought that, once the election was over, I wouldn't be as stuck to this thread - now I feel I need it more than ever!
First of all, Soarin - we're on in January. Just tell me when and where [then tell me how to get there!] And, Blestmom, we only get to have one Dole Whip together!?!?!?? Not a Mickey head, too?!?!??
The morning after the election, one of my professors was just giddy about the election results and said that she wished that Mc Cain would have lost Alaska.
I'm sorry.![]()
I think when people don't have a valid argument (like disagreeing on issues) they start attacking personally. Pretty petty.
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Track - named after her love of running
Bristol - named after Bristol Bay in Alaska, where the family fishes
Willow - named after the town of Willow, Alaska
Piper - named after a bush plane (Todd flies a private plane)
Trig - Norse name for "strength" or "true"
Exactly...
My roomie just got into it with an OS on Facebook. He told her she's going to go to hell since she opposes BO, whom he believes was prophecied in the Bible!!!! Come on!!!!![]()
Guess I'm going to hell too.... see all of you there, since we don't like BO much either. At least I won't be lonely.
That's so sad. And they wonder why we call him the Messiah and such..... that's how they make him out to be!!!Heh, well at least your roomie isn't an Obama supporter! Avoid arguments that way.A student who TA'd one of my college classes is my friend on Facebook. Couple days before the election she put up an avatar of a grassy field with the big "O" flag logo in the background, as if it were the sun rising over the Earth. And then there was a cross suspended in air at the top of the avatar. No joke. I thought I was seeing things, but no. I wasn't. And people wonder why some of us make digs about Obama being "The One" and "The Messiah." Most of his supporters don't think anything like that thankfully, but some for some bizarre reason really do think he is the Saviour.
Talk to y'all later.
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Am I the only one not on the very blue left coast still awake??
Hey, everyone! I am waaaay behind in reading this thread (and the last one), lol. Been really sad the past couple of days, but I am getting back on my feet. The morning after the election, one of my professors was just giddy about the election results and said that she wished that Mc Cain would have lost Alaska. I just glared at her. Can't wait til this quarter is OVER.
I'm going to bed now and forgetting tonight ever happened. I'm getting sick too. Woke up Tuesday feeling funny with a strange scratchy feeling in my throat, and now it's so bad I have no voice. Also feel like I might have a fever.![]()
Talk to y'all later.