Since well before Obama was elected, I predicted that he would win, that the Dems would win big, and that this smashing triumph would be the destruction of the party.
That process is now in full gear.
Here’s what the Brown victory really means: Obama, Pelosi, and Reid’s biggest threat to liberty in this nation has been derailed, probably for another generation. Given where I expect medical technology to be thirty years down the road, this most likely means that the single most effective engine of socialization in the United States has been permanently disarmed.
Which is why I cheered so mightily, and did all that I could, to support Scott Brown’s candidacy. First, because he has pledged to be the 41st vote against the Dem’s socialized medicine power grab, which leaves the Dems standing naked in the hurricane of their own greed and powerlust. All of their options now are horrible. Can they ram the Senate bill through the House with no changes?
No, they cannot. Scott Brown’s victory has made it plain that no Congressman or Senator enjoys the luxury of a safe seat. Can they bring it back to the Senate via the Doomsday Option? Well, when it was proposed by Republicans under Bush over judicial appointments, they shrieked that it was tyranny of the worst sort. Those quotes are still fresh - every Dem knows they will be used against them if they try to use Doomsday. The simple fact is that America hates this socialized medicine power grab, and any Dem who colludes in the only strategems by which it can be passed - exercises in naked tyranny every one - is signing his own political death warrant.
Obama has staked his presidency on socialized medicine, and he has failed. Hurrah! I hoped he would fail, and predicted he would fail, even before he was elected.
The only thing the Dems can do now is try to change the subject, which, after some false bravado, I expect them to do. But it won’t be enough. November is too close, and the forces of history have turned against them. They had their moment and misjudged it horribly, and now they will pay the price.
It has been rumored that some in the GOP leadership actually hoped socialized medicine would pass, so they could run against it on a “Repeal It!” platform. Such cynicism wouldn’t surprise me, but it does make me all the more determined to remake the GOP into a conservatarian image, at least as much as possible. The terrible risk of such a strategy - for short term gain - illustrates the moral, ethical, and political bankruptcy of anybody who advocates it, GOP leadership or not.
It won’t be possible to run true conservatarian candidates everywhere, though. It wouldn’t be possible in Massachusetts, for instance. Mitt Romney couldn’t have beaten Marsha Coakley. Sarah Palin could not have. Certainly Mike Huckabee couldn’t have. And Ron Paul would have been laughed out of the state. Scott Brown, a moderate, Rockefeller-style Republican, was the only sort of candidate who stood a chance, and so, because he was so important to halting socialized medicine, he deserved our utmost support. But that particular sort of moderate Republican should not ever be more than a wing of the larger party - valuable where necessary, but not in charge of national party policy.
So now we have a few days of breathing space, to enjoy the spectacle of the Democrat meltdown, the weeping and moaning of the leftstream media, and to savor the taste of a well-deserved victory. Yes, we can even enjoy a moment or two of cockiness - hear that, Judson? Where are all my triumphalist lefty readers? How loud are you now?
And then, back to work. Here’s the strategy. We contest every race. The goal is to put as many liberty-minded conservatives into office as we can, and where that is impossible, to elect the most congenial Republican we can get. In Mass, that was a Scott Brown. In California, it may end up being a Meg Whitman, or a Carly Fiorina. But where a liberty minded conservative has a shot, then back that candidate to the hilt, either in the primaries (no matter what the national party decides is good for us), and in the general elections afterwards. Rubio in Florida is an example of what I am talking about. He is popular, he can win, and he is far more congenial to our cause than the currently anointed GOP candidate (who may no longer be so anointed in the wake of the Massachusetts Massacre).
The kind of money Scott Brown raised showed that none of our candidates need to bow to the national committees in order to find the funds to run. The RNC and Suck-Up Steele are now trying to claim Brown’s victory for themselves, by bruiting about that they sent him half a million bucks, some “consultants,” and a bunch of phones. Yet when the hammer came down, Brown went to us, the people, and we raised five million dollars for him in five days, fille his phone banks with eager volunteers, and put an army on the streets to turn out the vote.
America has been given an unavoidable look at what the Democrats really are: power-crazed taxing, spending tyrants who care no more for the will of the people than they do for liberty itself. Now we have to give them a good look at a better option - no more “not quite as bad as the Dems” shit sandwiches (except where that is absolutely unavoidable), no more McCain-style RINOs vacillating between whether they want to be Democrats or (nominal) Republicans, (and McCain is definitely in our cross-hairs in the upcoming Arizona primary) and certainly no more reflexive support for smarmy traitors like “Benedict” Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Turncoat who will be retiring shortly, along with “Dirty” Harry Reid, and several other Dem sachems, whether willing or not.
This nation is only as good as its voting citizenry, but today showed that when that citizenry makes the effort to be good, it can be very good indeed. The Dems, with their socialist agendas, had convinced themselves that liberty in this nation was dead, succumbed to the sweet siren call of security from womb to tomb. Today they learned otherwise.
Oh, they’ll try to find excuses - that Coakley was a horrible candidate (true), that the “angry white men” scored a victory today (true also, as long as you include them with angry white women, angry men and women of all colors and creeds and even parties), or that this vote reflects not at all on the national party and, most particularly, Obama himself (most emphatically not true).
Barack Hussein Obama journeyed to Massachusetts and tied his Presidency to a Coakley victory. The Democrat state of Massachusetts has now rejected him roundly and soundly. After only a year, he has overnight become the lamest of ducks. Further, he’s not bright enough to pull a BJ Clinton and roll with the punch. He’s pledged to fight on. That fight will destroy him, and destroy his party for a generation.
So, okay. Tonight, get tipsy, feel cocky, and enjoy the sound of leftist lamentations.
Then, tomorrow: Back to work. We have a country - and the future - to take back from the crumbling left and the sclerotic GOP. Let’s get to it!
UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!
Submit to Stumbled Upon!
Huh!?!
Should that “not” have been “now”, Bill?
With the welcome help of The Won, we have a chance to destroy the Democrat party for decades if not permanently. With such a prize in sight, we must get to work right away. Never let a good crisis go to waste.
I was with Allah on this one. I didn’t believe it until I saw it.
Bill,
We had a free for all in Rachel Lucas’s comments in which I said exactly what you stated above. People pilloried me for being stupid, an ignoramus. Guess I knew more than it appeared.
Time to get busy. November isn’t far away and the GOP has plenty of time to fuck things up. Keep their feet to the fire and get great candidates out. Take back all the House seats held by Dems in GOP districts and grab a few more besides. Add in 5-8 Senate seats and Barry will become more and more petulant. In fact, I predict that after November, he’ll try to ramrod even more things through via Executive Orders, which will really kill his party come 2012. Yes, he’s that big of a narcissist, and a petulant baby to boot.
I’m with Ace here: time for some ball-dipping gloating, and then back to work.
BTW, could Coakley have run a worse campaign? Dissing Fenway and calling Curt Schilling a Yankee fan? Good grief, I don’t live in MA and I know how freaking stupid that is. But if she weren’t a low grade moron, Brown might not be Senator-elect today. So, YAY Martha! You WENT, girl!
The goal is to put as many liberty-minded conservatives into office as we can, and where that is impossible, to elect the most congenial Republican we can get.
Two quick points:
1) Who’s this ‘we’? You’re a libertarian; you’ve said so in the past (to me directly). It was a Republican who won tonight, certainly not a Lib. Glad you were with us Pubs for this election, we appreciate your vote, but as you noted, Senator-elect Brown is not a libertarian. Give it some time and you’ll be denouncing him as a RINO. I’ll still be calling him a Republican.
2) Your statement echoes WF Buckley, who said that he would always vote for the most conservative candidate electable. Glad to see you’ve come around.
I think the ground has shifted here as well as in Massachusetts. Have you finally figured out that it takes a big party and a big tent to get things done?
Well, now we can go back to voting for Republicans. Thanks, Bill.
The list of losers in this election include Ms. Coakley, President Obama, and the DNC. But let’s not overlook the other loser: the RNC.
The leaders of the national Republican party basically abandoned Mr. Brown, wrote him off as not worth their time and their precious fund-raising “skills”. Their read of the national mood is virtually identical to the President’s — and identically wrong.
This sends a message to independent-minded Republican politicians: they don’t have to kowtow to the national leaders to get funding. If they believe in their message, they can go straight to the people, and take their message straight to the right-leaning media and right-leaning blogs. I don’t know if anyone can ever again raise a million dollars a day for a week, especially if multiple candidates are all vying for the same dollars; but the Republican leaders no longer hold the power of the purse when it comes to their party. The people do.
The Brown win will make a lot of Democrats in Congress nervous for their jobs; but it should do the same for Michael Steele and the rest of the Republican leadership.
Not at all. Would I support a GOP made up of nothing but Scott Browns, John McCains, and Arlen Specters? Not for a moment, certainly not simply because they are Republicans.
The goal is two-fold: Remake the GOP in a conservatarian image, and destroy the Dem party as a political power.
Neither one entails an endless diet of RINO shit sandwiches as far as the eye can see. And if you and yours think that it does, or should, then you will forfeit my vote, and those like me, once again.
Big Tent doesn’t mean RINO tent just for a cheap victory or two. The GOP must stand for something as a whole that I support, or I won’t support it. If 2006 and 2008 didn’t demonstrate that to you, then you are as dumb as the Democrats who refuse to learn anything from the Brown victory in Massachusetts. And I suspect that just as they won’t learn anything, neither will you.
Dress in Brown tomorrow - pass it on!
What an inspiration for everyone fighting the socialist power grab.
What Bill said.
Hear! Hear!
It’s time to make the members of congress famous.
Time to step up the pressure on the garbage that is going on in DC.
Solutions will come from constant pressure.
If he turns out to be as big an asshole as many of the RINOs are, of course he will be denounced. But for now, he can make his own mark. I have hope, but it is up to Brown.
Neither one entails an endless diet of RINO shit sandwiches as far as the eye can see.
I don’t advocate that. I’ve been working for conservatives in my party. I’ve been doing the phone-bank thing lately, and come November I’ll be doing the street walk with flyers and signs. But, as you’ve apparently started to realize, conservatives can’t win everywhere, at least not right now. So my party (the Republicans) tries to work with moderates (note: not Dede) who will stand with us most of the time, and will vote for moderates when a conservative simply can’t win. I again reference Buckley: the most conservative candidate electable.
That beats letting nitwits like Coakley skate through.
The country is not ready for a Bill Quick conservative movement all the time. Ours is a center-right country. The Pubs win and get things done when it embraces both the right and the center. That moves the country right, but it can’t and won’t be, um, ‘quick’.
Ronald Reagan understood that. Do you?
Brown won without help from the Republican Party. He’s not beholden to the so-called leaders who supported “that woman” in New York. Brown will not and should not be a reliable vote to carry out the leaders’ wishes. Brown will be his own man, he will build his own coalition to advance an agenda which may or may not coincide with the leaders’.
I’m with you! A quick moment to dance and drink a toast and cheer — all of which I did tonight!! — and back to work.
I donated to Brown several times. Small amounts all. “An army of Davids” … and here we come!
This is the first skirmish of the Second American Revolution. I’m proud to be part of it.
Let’s pray the entire thing remains as peaceful as tonight was.
Except for the Dems, that is… I don’t think they’re going to have peaceful slumber tonight… :)
Do you have your eyes closed? Do you think this was a victory engineered by the R party? Brown won because people fed up with the D party donated money and time. The R’s basically did nothing but conceed, right up until it became clear Brown might win. Brown’s victory had little to nothing to do with the big tent R party and everything to do with the anti obama cowd. Thank the tea party, not the R party.
Most of us, like Bill Q., just want a party with a conservative philosophy. We don’t expect idealogical purity in each state. Since Reagan, the R party has had more in common with the socialists than conservatives. I hope we are seeing a shot across the bow, aimed at both parties tonight. This is Mass. Electing even a moderate R senator is a feat. Imagine what will happen in more conservative states.
“The goal is to put as many liberty-minded conservatives into office as we can, and where that is impossible, to elect the most congenial Republican we can get.”
Forget Rush, you da man.
What Barry Said…
Amen!
The R’s basically did nothing but conceed, right up until it became clear Brown might win.
That’s a level of historical revisionism that I usually associate with Walter Duranty.
The Pubs very, very quietly put serious money into helping Brown over the last month, as they should have. The Pubs very quietly got people into Brown’s campaign to help him several months back. That noted arch-conservative Mitt Romney especially helped. All that combined with the Army of David contributions and enthusiasm from around the state to win the election. Brown needed ALL of that.
The message is a simple one: concede nothing, fight for the votes, and get a candidate out there who can win. Brown was the right man for this race, and he won exactly by appealing all across the center-right, from Pubs to tea-party advocates (bless them) to independents to disgruntled centrist Dems.
In other words, a Big Tent.
Brown wouldn’t win in South Carolina. Coburn wouldn’t win in Massachusetts.
You need a big tent, a broad-based coalition, to come together. Brown demonstrated that tonight. That Bill Quick is willing to concede that he needs ‘congenial’ Republicans is a telling change from his tone the last couple of years, and I applaud him for it.
Baby steps, man, baby steps.
(Too choked up with gloat to say anything at all useful.)
Why wait until November? Isn’t recall of congressmen and senators an option in some states? If so, pick out one or two and execute the plan now!
And for those states that don’t have such an option, work now to change that.
Also, get “none of the above” on the ballot for every local state, and federal position. That way, we don’t have to settle for milquetoast candidates.
Hurrah. My snake flag hasn’t been dusted off since the Embarcadero. I feel revolution in the air. It smells sweet.
“But that particular sort of moderate Republican should not ever be more than a wing of the larger party - valuable where necessary, but not in charge of national party policy.”
Whoa! We don’t deal with Brown and his ilk unless we can exploit them? You apparently didn’t notice that the guy in the driver’s seat of that Republican truck is Scott Brown.
/UNDO
Bill - The Republican primary for the Governor of Texas is fast approaching. Debra Medina is the dark horse, true Republican candidate. She is running against two shit sandwich RINOs (Perry and Hutchinson). Care to send another message to the RINO establishment? Spread the word!
Medina for Texas!
I am not terribly amused by Steele’s attempt to pretend that the RNC’s efforts were pivotal, by the way. As I mentioned in my post, above.
Sissy Willis and Gateway Pundit had more to do with Brown’s victory than Steele and the RNC did.
Bingo. Got it in one. I won’t support a RINO party. A lot of other people won’t, either. And guess what? 2006 and 2008 proved you can’t win without us. You may not get, or understand that message, but I see signs others are finally figuring it out. If not, then the party will die. Who needs a pale imitation of the Democrat party when the real thing is available?
The GOP was considerably more tolerable when the Rockefeller wing hadn’t taken over the whole show. And I happen to be old enough to personally remember when that was the case.
The best thing about the Brown victory wasn’t his squishy politics - it was the GOP knife into the heart of the heart of Dem-lefty country. His victory alone does far more damage to the left than his actual politics ever will - with the exception of his vote against socialized medicine. Had he not pledged that, it would have been considerably more difficult to support him - I mean, what difference would his election make, in that event? It was his one major conservative position that won him that race. Don’t forget it.
@ Derf: Give me a chance to catch my breath. I’ll be posting later on about races where we can, and should, put the most muscle.
Tonight was a great night and a testament to the power of tea partiers and like minded conservatives. If the RNC or the RNSC gave money to Brown before last week, I wasn’t aware of it. And Romney’s help was not necessarily establishment GOP party help since he has MA roots.
We have many liberal Dems in GOP states and districts and they need to be encouraged to retire or lose this Nov. Also, Senators in states like North Dakota or Utah should be strong conservatives, not RINOs. I am in FL and will be doing what I can to get Marco Rubio elected. And if he wins the primary, he will be elected. No need to settle for Crist.
One of the sweetest things about this Brown win is that it wouldn’t have been possible if the MA dems didn’t change the rules in 2004 to prevent Romney from potentially appointing a Repub in the event Kerry won. Karma is such a bitch . . .
A Hillary supporter problem might be sneaking up on the Democrats.
That would be fun to watch.
One visual…Snoopy dance anyone?
I very much liked Bill’s tone in the piece above. Gracious and intelligent and cheering to the soul.
I hope that we do destroy the Dem party for a generation, and that in the end most of the Dem supporters ‘realize’ they were Republicans and conservatives alll along. And then we can have an era of civic peace as politics retreats back from center stage which is not where its supposed to be.
As to the fellows shouting for moderates….I was going to vote for Hillary Clinton or not at all until John McCain picked Sarah Palin. I’m not sure what handicap to give, but one should give a vote percentage bonus based on Conservative and double it if the conservative is Happy. So, forex, if polls for the primaries say Candidate A the RINO has 50% and B the Happy Warrior has 39% you should assume perhaps that the Happy Warrior is in the lead for the general election which is what matters most. Only if the RINO is truly smoking the Conservative should he be supported.
And now I will dissappear for another year. Happy 2010.
I think it would be considerably more accurate to say you won’t support a Conservative-In-Name-Only party. Except there isn’t a Conservative Party, much as conservatives would like to think that they are the rightful owners of the Republican brand. The two terms may have long been conflated, but they are not synonymous. So too, political, economic and social conservatives often have overlapping profiles and interests, but not always.
Guess what, conservatives can’t get there on their own devices either. The Republican Party can be a coalition party, or it can be separate voices crying in the political wilderness.
Not so. The 41st vote pitch is what attracted the most national attention, but it may actually have been his squishiest position, considering the fact that he did not inveigh against the Mass. healthcare system. Quite the contrary. His own campaign strategist will also tell you that national security issues were both central to his message, and pivotal to his success. Rage against the machine, as well as both political and legislative corruption played their part. Just for starters.
Mitt Romney was quietly instrumental in Brown’s campaign, and Mitt Romney Republicans can win in the Northeast. McConnell Republicans can win in Virginia, Christie Republicans in New Jersey. Each of them represents a different mix of conservative and centrist stances — in which what they don’t emphasize is as important as what they do. Conservative and Progressive purists may despise the middle, but as the unenrolled voters in Massachusetts just demonstrated, yet again, they are a key demographic.
Brown’s rise coincided precisely with the Senate health care bribes. Romney had nothing major to do with it, nor did Steele and the Republican National Party. Brown’s victory was simple — he made it clear he would stand against federal takeover of the healthcare system. If he had supported the Senate or House bill, the Democrat would have won. It is as simple as that.
I am equipped with both legs, thank you. And a functioning brain cell or three. If you believe Brown would have won without opposing the federal takeover of health care, well, you’re just clueless. He could have won without the “quiet” help of Romney or Steele, but not if he supported the health care bill.
The rise/fall of gov-med is huge, but - I think - not enough to turn the welfare state back. [stepping on land-mind here] Do Conservatives really completely reject the fundamentals that make them just as likely to promote welfare?
and yet none of these can win in a national election. The Mitt GOp would lose the south and the west, the Christe GOP the same. the Mcdonald GOP may be the closest to a national GOP win. Yet they would still fall short.
the only GOP that can win in a national election with a mandate to stop the dems is a Reagan GOP. bush ran as a Reagan rep yet he governed as liberal in most things domestic and forgein.
Only a real reaganite candidate can win and change America.
What a crock. This is not the end of the Dems any more than 08 was the end of the Reps.
Democrats cannot win for long periods if they listen only to that small percentage on the far left.
Republicans cannot win for long periods if they listen only to that small percentage on the far right.
Each party must hold the center to win long term and to have the opportunity to shape policy… even at the cost of the base.
A great many people want some type of health care reform. Don’t even think this is a repudiation of that.
However, they don’t want this monster and they don’t want it created in secret.
They don’t want massive bailouts of auto makers or banks.
They want smaller government and fiscal responsibility. They want the government out of our pocketbook and out of our bedroom.
Enjoy the win. I’m certainly glad he made it but it wasn’t a landslide. So don’t get too cocky.
And Scott needs to be given his due by ‘the’ purist in the republican party. He’s going to cast plenty of votes they don’t like. Don’t push him into the Dem’s camp or force him into the Pub’s, if he’s truly representing his constituency. Quit with the Rino meme. We all know what the politics are, of the state he comes from and if the Dem machine had put up a better candidate, Brown would not be headed to DC.
When the Republicans cleaned House with the ‘Contract with America’ in 1994, I said, “Fine! Now - TAKE NO PRISONERS.”
But the Republicans went into ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ mode and cravenly stood by for the Borking of Newt.
Might be the Republicans had their own dark secrets - things that must be kept from the voters at all cost, placing staying-in-office above principle.
With that I began to lose interest in the Republican Party.
When GWB handed us the prescription drug medicare, that nobody particularly wanted, that sealed it.
Now I am a card carrying Libertarian.
Amen.
Ah, the plan is MY plan–though one could use semantics to say that it’s not. But I really don’t care–as long as we get it going.
This was a taste of November–and I hope the left chokes on it.
Jill, Steve, the only reason RINOs win at all is that there are huge swathes of our population infected with the debilitating brain disorder that motivates the left.
Thanks to the thorough corrupting of our educational system there are people who actually believe that ‘far right’ is just as bad–if not identical to ‘far left’(though the idea of ‘far left’ is increasingly hidden). But far right is freedom–you don’t get to the horrors of the left by working for actual right wing positions.
How does absolutist free press lead to state controlled media?
How does absolutist free speech lead to censorship and speech codes?
How does an absolutist right to bear arms lead to state enslavement?
It doesn’t. And that’s the FAR right. That’s where it leads.
And even if we can’t get there, the path to it doesn’t include aquiesence to the ideas that lead to gulags–because that’s where ALL the ideas on the left lead. In order for any of their ideas to work the human spirit must be broken and reshaped so that it is more amenable to hive style existence
RINOS have one use–to keep power out of the hands of the left. Nothing else.
Out here in the midwest, among those choices, Ron Paul is the only one with a chance. When the likes of Romney, Palin, and Huckabee are our choices — no thanks.
Keep your Bible thumpers, moral crusaders, and small-minded pundits. We can take care of our values on a local level. Give us smart, small-government Federal representatives who mind their own business and you’ll win every time.
The democrats have to learn a lesson maybe, just maybe the hardest way. Would there a hidden agenda why Obama was shouting at the top of his voice in support of Coakley, that said agenda is crippled!
Steve White, et al who think this was a major win for the Republican Party - You are once again engaging in self hypnosis and revisionist history. More money and votes came from people who hate the R leadership than from those that love it. When we refused to endorse you in the last presidential election, you swung in the wind. There are more of you, but you can’t form a majority without us.
We’ll give you the lawyers, [votes], and money to win if you run someone that fits both of our sensibilities, and they do exist. If not, we’ll cut your nose off to spite your face again, until you learn.
When Congress votes for party over principles and NOT for their representative constituency, they MUST be removed.
The Tea Party represents taxpayer citizens at a NATIONAL level. We override a corrupt process that uses CENTRAL COMMITTEES at local and state levels to choose who will be put on a ballot. If you want to change the way the nation is run, you need to understand this point.
Traditional politics is dead, but America is not.
DEMAND transparency, honesty and competency from your elected representatives. When they fail in any of the three, VOTE THEM OUT no matter what their party is.
Hey, drob, you trying for a Duranty Pulitzer?
Self hypnosis seems the order of the day for the statist R’s. All your victory they belong to us.
Since my response to these comments leave out my happiness with Brown’s victory, let me make clear - Congratulations to Scott Brown on a well earned election victory.
From what I read, I believe Senator Brown will represent conservatives at the national level quite well.
While I might care, it is up to Mass. residents to govern theirselves at the state level (consistent with the US Constitution) how they see fit. I don’t care how the Senator voted in the state legislature as long as he follows the conservative route on the big issue’s in the senate.
Hey, drob, you trying for a Duranty Pulitzer?
???
Steve White comment #18
Apparently, Barney Frank got the message. His comments appear to slam the door on the current health care bill. The Brown victory might make it more difficult to change Congress in November. I guess I have to be careful what I wish for. An arrogant Democrat is a lot easier to defeat than a wised-up devious one.
If you want to destroy the Dems as a political power, can I make some suggestions? They are all good for the country AND good for the Republican party because they knock the legs out from under the Democrats.
1. Real campaign finance reform. Americans want lobbyists out - forever. If candidates can only accept money from actual constituents (up to $10,000 say), the Republican base of middle class will out-raise the Democrats’ welfare constituency every time.
2. Make the Federal Govt a right-to-work jurisdiction. No more government unions, period. And make their pensions defined contribution.
3. Tie federal education funding to a mandatory voucher system that passes at least 97% of spendig to the students’ choice. This would destroy a huge Democratic constituency at the Fed and State level while creating a new one for the Republicans (parochial schools). It would also be good for the country.
4. Enact the Fairtax. This would boost growth and wipe away 80+ years of Democratic social engineering written into the tax code in one fell swoop.
The fact is that the Republicans are going to have to reign in Social Security, Medicare as Medicaid if the country is to survive. But this will not be popular. They need to have some candy to go with the medicine, and I think the above would be popular.
True, but the welfare constituents are not the ones giving the Dems money. It is the fat cat attorneys, the fat cat unionists, the fat cat corporate executives, the fat cat wall street thieves, and the rest of the fat cat special interest folks. Yes we need to restrict contributions to just real people. But that will not hamper the Dems any more that it will hamper the GOP. It’s the independents that would benefit from that proposal. So I am all for it.
To Barry:
You don’t know whether Brown could have won without Romney’s help or not. I suspect you also don’t know precisely what kind of assistance the former Massachusetts governor actually rendered. Since Steele was no help, Brown could obviously win without the GOP chairman’s help. I think it’s fair to say that if Brown hadn’t thrown down the healthcare gauntlet, his loss would have been almost certain. I also think it’s fair to say that if that were his only message, he’d have been an unlikely victor.
To ignore the complex of issues that put Brown over the top is conveniently, but myopically, reductive. The habit of seeing what you want to see is not confined to the left.
To unseen:
These are not conservative sentiments!
National politics are seductive, but if you don’t like Kelo, amend your state constitution. If healthcare “reform” gets through Congress, it is your state Attorney General who has the standing to mount a Supreme Court challenge. If you don’t want federalized education, elect a governor who will reject federal subsidies.
You can wait around for another Reagan, but the real pushback against Washington is not going to come from Washington. If a Bill Quick attitude can alienate even a political and economic conservative like me, you might as well forget Washington anyway. The folks who don’t recognize the foundational importance of state politics or the most fruitful venues for 10th amendment activism or the benefits of distinctive state modeling are the real conservatives in name only.
What’s sad is that change at the state and local level is so much easier to accomplish than trying to move a whole nation. It also requires face to face, feet on the ground, suasion, however, where confrontational, ideological zealotry is generally the least effective. Scott Brown’s campaign has much to teach the rest of us on that score too.
JMHaynes, I don’t think you know either. You made the point that Romney was “instrumental in Brown’s campaign”. I said it was “nothing major”. We can disagree.
You do seem to agree that Brown’s fedeal health care position made the campaign a winner, which is my point. I’m not ignoring “the complex of issues that put Brown over the top”. I am saying he would not have won had he not made stopping healthcare #1.
You are a nice person, but I really don’t think you need to lecture Bill on state/federal politics. I’m sure he understands the difference. Stay here and read for a few weeks. You would make a nice addition to the commentary. You might broaden your understanding as well.
No one here advocates rejecting state level activism. There is nothing wrong with fighting it at a federal level. We don’t know the outcome of a future SC case, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time the SC allowed something I find clearly unconstitutional.
I think you are fundamentally wrong regarding what you think Bill advocates in your next to last para. Why you would be alienated is beyond me. What alienates you? I’m not getting it. If a republican is a socialist, then why on earth should we support them? If Brown goes on to side with the socialist party, he’ll lose the support of conservatives. Why would it be otherwise? Bill made it clear that a hard core conservative couldn’t win in Mass. Brown is acceptable. What’s so difficult? if he were running for President, different story.
Ok -
Shamelessly stolen from my son. (And where he got it, I know not.)
“And have you considered what Brown can do for you?”
DCP
We’re in full agreement here. I just hope that when one of your candidates loses in the primaries to a less ideologically sympatico candidate, you won’t pick up your ball and go home.
Conservaterian candidate in Texas GOP governor primary–
Debra Medina.
Opponents: Big-government Governor Rick Perry. (signed Texas income tax on business)
Bigger-government Kay Bailey Hutchison. (voted for the Bailout)
If we’re going to make the party better–here’s a change.
March 2, Texas Independence Day, is the primary.
Medina is the new Brown.
Bill,
Congratulations, and I LOVE saying this -you were right about this election. I was afraid to hope.
I continue to hope what you say is true, that this is a turning point. That there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Now that rather depends on how much less, doesn’t it?
I maintain that it’s actually counter-productive for someone who is focused on freedom and small government to enable an Arlen Specter or a Jim Jeffords to gain office under the Republican banner. People giving exactly the same advice you just did enabled both of those cases, and many others.
If you counsel “vote for the Republican candidate in the general election no matter what”, you are telling the party establishment that they can count on you, no matter what. That gives them less incentive to back the small government candidates you might want. If they are sure of your vote, because you’ve pre-emptively guaranteed it, then they are free to push a mushy moderate in an attempt to “expand the tent” and get more votes.
So your “unconditionally support the GOP candidate” strategy actually works against those who want to reform the party and move it towards small government principles. Your vote and support only mean something if you might take it away. So, to actually put pressure on the party to move in the direction you want, you must be prepared to withdraw support if they don’t.
The line that makes you withdraw that support is sometimes hard to figure out. But supporting, say, Arlen Specter or Jim Jeffords is clearly past it.
Better a Democrat than someone who is constantly working within our own camp to undermine the principles of freedom, and someone so ideologically alien or mushy or both that they’ll walk over to the other side at the slightest provocation.
For me, McCain was past the line. I didn’t vote for John McCain, and I’m actually pretty happy about the way things turned out. I detest almost everything Obama stands for, but under Bush/McCain, it was just a slow march to socialism with no realistic alternative. Now, we’ve got someone attempting a fast march, but at least there’s a chance for a real reversal.
We will see no real change until Republicans learn the lesson that they win big when they embrace minimal government principles (see 1980, 1984, and 1994) and they lose if they put up choices that embrace go-along-get-along slow march socialism (1992, 1996, 2006, 2008), or at best scrape by if the Democrats put up sufficiently lousy candidates (2000, 2004).
There must be a critical mass of people in the party who believe in their gut that small government is better, or the party is worthless. That doesn’t mean Bob Dole or John McCain or George Bush. It doesn’t mean well meaning people such as Bill Frist who campaign on limited government and then get rapidly assimilated by the political establishment. It means full-throated advocates for freedom and limited government. Otherwise, the whole exercise is just a delaying action that actually decreases the chances of a long term solution.
Socialism, whether the fast march or the slow march variety, eventually leads to meltdown of the finanacial system. Over a time span measured in decades that’s almost as sure a predection as saying that a dropped rock will fall to the ground. When the meltdown comes, the country needs those who have maintained all along that it was coming. Such an alternative should be obvious and visible, because otherwise the only choice is a law-and-order statist who clamps down even further.
So, whether it’s for hoped-for reversal before the meltdown, or preparing for the meltdown, we need real small government advocates. If we don’t have them, winning means nothing. This isn’t a football game.
Barry:
You’ll find the attitudes I was reacting to in my comments at #22 and #33; the assertion I disputed was that Brown won on “one major conservative issue” alone.
There’s a reason Brown gave Romney a big shout out in his acceptance speech. Among other things, Romney’s consulting group was advising Brown almost from the start, as well as creating some of his most effective ads; key members of Brown’s election staff, from his campaign manager to his chief strategist, came straight out of Romney’s own team; Romney was personally raising money for him off the radar throughout. I’d say that much, alone, qualifies as instrumental.
My last three paragraphs were directed to “unseen,” not Bill Quick, but I can see how my comment on the alienation I expressed earlier might have suggested otherwise.
JMH, I will conceed that Romney helped/influenced the campaign. For all I know, he may have told Brown to loudly oppose the health care bill as the key to victory. We will never know the alternative outcome of a campaign without Romney, but I think it is safe to say Brown would not have stood a chance without his loud and vocal pledge to be the 41st vote. The money that came into the campaign and the national attention focused the Mass voters on him, pushed his polling numbers up, and started the steam roller that resulted in his election.
It is important to understand this in elections to come, not in elections past. In any event, I have a great deal of respect for what you think even when I may disagree somewhat.
I completely missed the reference to “unseen”, my apology.
Barry:
I’m happy to concede that the 41st vote was critically important. Thanks for the engagement — it’s pretty startling to think that only a couple of months ago, the fact that we’re even talking about Brown’s victory would have been inconceivable.
I think the next one should be Barney Frank. I worked the phones for Scott Brown, held signs and i felt real excited the whole time. I’m ready to help anyone against the liberals, I am for all liberty minded folks
S.C.Papa, Good Luck with that.
Barney Frank and a small handful of liberals were able to take Fanny and Freddie iand turn them nto a disaster; his actions were both the ‘prick’ that burst the housing bubble and the blowjob that turned it into a financial firestorm.
Do you need any help?
I looked on line and found out that Scott Brown took 116,000 votes, to Martha Coakely’s 113.000 approx, in Barney’s district. So there maybe hope after all, I have to find out if Ed Sholley drives a truck