Author Topic: Personal Reflections On Yesterday’s Elections  (Read 881 times)

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Offline Rapunzel

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Personal Reflections On Yesterday’s Elections
« on: November 06, 2013, 11:08:20 pm »
http://www.redstate.com/2013/11/06/personal-reflections-on-yesterdays-elections/

Personal Reflections On Yesterday’s Elections

By: streiff (Diary)  |  November 6th, 2013 at 11:17 AM

As a resident of the People’s Republic of Maryland, or Omalleystan if you prefer, I didn’t have a dog in yesterday’s elections. I, like many other on this site, were saddened that Ken Cuccinelli, a gentleman and a class act, lost a narrow election to the ongoing RICO violation that is Terry McAuliffe. People deserve the government they elect and we’ll see if the Commonwealth is better off four years from now than it is today.

First, on Viginia. I think everyone following the race knew Cuccinelli’s campaign had periods when it was in disarray. There is a lot of fingerpointing but a couple of salient facts remain. The Cuccinelli loss did not contribute to significant losses in the Virginia Senate or House of Delegates. Terry McAuliffe will be forced to deal with a fairly conservative legislature and McAuliffe, being McAuliffe, is much more fond of spending Other People’s Money than of hard work. We can probably predict stasis as the outcome.

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The second point is that the RNC threw in the towel on this race for reasons only they can explain. As Erick pointed out yesterday, they spent $9 million to help elect Bob McDonnell in 2009. They could only find $3 million to help Ken Cuccinelli. When you consider who will get your next monetary donation, ask yourself if the trailer park Machiavelli’s at the RNC will do anything worthwhile with it.[/[/color]b][/size]

If the Attorney General’s race is resolved in the favor of Obenshain, we might get to see McAuliffe frog-marched out of the governor’s mansion.

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I don’t blame the Libertarians for this. I don’t blame them for getting behind an astroturf candidate who was financed by the Democrats to siphon votes from Cuccinelli. I don’t blame them for voting for a Libertarian who was in favor of increased taxes and an expansion of federal authority. The guy was in favor of buggery and free dope so it is understandable how a political philosophy that focuses on satisfying the most primal human needs fielded this candidate. In all seriousness, it looks like most of the votes the Libertarian received came from Democrats who couldn’t bear the thought of voting for someone as corrupt as McAuliffe… this, too, explains the small number of votes cast for the Libertarian.

On New Jersey. Governor Christie won. No big surprise there. But as somebody famous once said to somebody else, “you will know them by their fruits.”

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The question I have for any Blue State governor is what have you done to advance the cause of either conservatism (the answer to this is always “not much, I don’t believe in that crap”) or the GOP in general? By this I mean, did you help build the party or did you build a cult of personality.

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If you go through my commentary on Mitt Romney you will see that the center of my critique over two elections was that he left the Massachusetts GOP in a shambles. No matter what his approval ratings or accomplishments, those were the function of Romney focusing on Romney. The state party was ignored and reduced to an irrelevant husk.
I think the same question is appropriate for Christie? What have you done in New Jersey besides build a machine focused on promoting Chris Christie’s career. Last night the answer was pretty clear: Nothing. Christie was in the election to win big for Christie. He did. Good for him. He didn’t move the political needle in New Jersey one iota. That bodes ill for how a President Christie will govern.

What does it mean?

Last night, Christie said in his victory speech,

 
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  “Maybe folks in Washington should tune in their TV right now to see how it’s done.”

But when the losing candidate complains that her party threw her under the bus:

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    She thanked aides who “withstood the onslaught of betrayal from our own political party.”

    And [State Senator Barbara Buono] recalled her decision to back down and let party leaders install their choice for state party chairman like this:

    “I took one for the team. The only problem, I realized too late there was no team.”[/quote]

you are left with the feeling there is part of the puzzle you’re not being allowed to see.

One has to wonder why, if Governor Christie represents the way the GOP must run for office to win and if Ken Cuccinelli represents the way that guarantees the GOP will lose, the Democrat party ignored the New Jersey race — to the extent that their candidate basically accused the NJ Democrat party of throwing the election — and hurled everything they had into the race to beat the guy who, according to the conventional wisdom, didn’t have a chance.

I think the results from last night should leave us with grave concerns about a Christie candidacy to the extent that it does anything more than serve as a sop to Christie’s immense ego. Like a James Bond martini, it leaves one shaken not stirred.
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: Personal Reflections On Yesterday’s Elections
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2013, 11:09:11 pm »
and of interest (at least to me) today one of the main guys who was running Christies election team in NJ went to NH to take a job running the 2016 primaries in NH.
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: Personal Reflections On Yesterday’s Elections
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2013, 11:11:03 pm »
 35 minutes ago

One win, or one loss for that matter, makes not a national election.

If we had gotten out in front of Cuccinelli sooner would he had won? Hard to say, but I would certainly bet the odds rise, more significantly if we would work together as a party. If that race displays anything it is that balkanization is not only destructive, but a sure electoral loser. The party will never have significant gains unless we put all of our talents together and create a combined strategy which puts us on the same page.

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As for Christie, being rather deeply knowledgeable of NJ politics, I can confidently say his reelection is hardly a bellwether for anything except, well, NJ.

You'll notice Mr. Christie has lot's of handy platitudes and criticisms which are ultimately abstractions (or distractions?). He's largely a media candidate and the Republican "Obama" if you will- but with an actual record. He is indeed vainglorious and it's "all about him". He's restored some fiscal sanity in NJ- good for him. He's done the job he was elected to do- notwithstanding the entire sordid Sandy affair paid for on the backs of other states. But how dare we point out that he let folks build there, collected their tax money and then looked to us for a bailout.

But that said, in the spirit of working together, Mr. Christie does have some admirable qualities. I like his moxie (which is seriously lacking in the current Washington effeminate group) and he does know how to work the legislative process. Ultimately, he's a good guy to have on your side- just not as a national candidate. But I've rattled on too long...
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: Personal Reflections On Yesterday’s Elections
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2013, 11:13:09 pm »
 2 hours ago

No coat tails. What is the point. Yes I got to vote for him yesterday, but there was no gain. People split their ticket. And conservatives lost on the ballot measures.

If you want someone that might turn around the government a little bit, will veto a few bills but is likely to end up decreasing down ticket influence, Christie is your man. He will get in Hillary's face. But I don't think she is going to be the first lady president anyway. And if the OFA backs another candidate for First Lady President, Christie's hands will be tied. His personality will serve to make him look obnoxious and racist. Of course, we like our politicians obnoxious, it helps them to deal with the other political powers in New Jersey, whether they are in prison or not. But for President? Not so much.
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: Personal Reflections On Yesterday’s Elections
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2013, 11:21:12 pm »
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6 hours ago

Please correct me if I'm wrong but Christie's coat tails seem to be abysmal who else wins by 22 points and has +0 seat in the state senate, and what looks to be just +2 in the state assembly. I find his lack of coat tails to be embarrassing and a bad sign.

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6 hours ago

I too was curious why the NJ governor's race was handed to Christie without a fight when the Ds had a candidate Barbara Buono willing to fight and wanted help down to the wire. She was no sacrificial anything in her mind. NJ is a Democrat leaning state with many conservatives though. And anything was possible especially keeping low numbers for a Christie victory. That was not to be.

One rationale for calling one special election to replace Lautenberg RIP at great public expense instead of holding the Senate special at general time was Christie could get more votes for the NJ down ticket with Booker not on ballot at same time. Apparently that did not happen and the state party is still a minority. Christie is a one man show and a no show in Virginia unlike so many others who helped.

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Media position him as a national leader of GOP and the man who can win nomination. They keep his name in limelight and that is why he has such dangerous appeal. Voters see and hear the name and think he is credible since he gets media coverage.
His policies on issues from amnesty, gun control GW, gay marriage are so liberal I can not tell him from DNC, can you?

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Languedoctor
• 5 hours ago

The out of state special interests in Virginia broke a record at 70% from outside with most for McAuliffe who had much more on hand than Cuccinelli. Overkill in VA was the DNC outcome but Terry won a plurality. He has no mandate.

The second most important race yesterday is the AG Virginia undecided. If that goes D the liberal lawlessness promoted in the campaign will have some impact and teeth.

The third but maybe its second was the loss of Young in Alabama to a Chamber backed man Byrne. On some votes tea party make a difference and it shows in this massive effort to remove about five or six US Reps and replace with other Republicans.

That liberal and DNC special interests did not bother to try and drop Christie's numbers a few pts means they took a lot for granted and are not as threatened as they could be.

I do not think he can sustain a presidential primary as no one likes him up close, or at a distance in some cases. Me, me, me never us or you.

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5 hours ago

I spoke of a conspiracy yesterday and won't need to anymore. The facts are out there that the D's threw their own under the bus because they want the GOP to run another squish so we'll lose in 2016, again. And Christie refused multiple times to campaign for Ken.
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Today, Christie tells the NYT that he'll campaign for governors next year....a little late. He'll be the leader of the RGA. So let's just see how well he can be a governor, the head of the RGA and running for prez....something's going to suffer.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11...


�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline Cincinnatus

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Re: Personal Reflections On Yesterday’s Elections
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2013, 12:01:22 am »
This is also just so much bull.
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I like his moxie...

Christie gets points for being "outspoken" but who is more outspoken than Ted Cruz? The difference: Cruz criticizes Obama and the Left so he gets a bad press. Christie is bombastic and only criticizes Conservatives, so he gets a fawning press.

It's all in whose ox is being gored.
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid ~~ Samuel Adams