The Republican Defeat of 2006

It was difficult to listen to prominent Republicans in advance of the election, probably fully aware of what was coming, attempt to shift the blame to an uninformed electorate for their developing defeat at the polls - trying desperately to shame conservatives into voting. Personages such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich and John O’Neill expressed their views publicly that conservatives clearly didn’t understand what was at stake.

What was at stake? Was it a Republican congressman’s personal loss of privilege and power? Was it the narrow interests of the Republican Party? Having done so little to meet the expectations of most citizens, the Republican Party’s focus was hardly the welfare of the United States. How could any Republican claim otherwise having frittered away six years and delivered only runaway debt, rampant socialism and laughable national security on open borders? Arguably, liberal Republicans (as opposed to conservative Republicans and Libertarians) have done more harm to liberty and the social fabric of our nation than 50 years of Democratic Party control.

Within minutes of the election returns, and still somewhat in total denial, their tune began to change and became more introspective. The realization began to set in that control of the House and the Senate was irrevocably gone and Republicans had squandered their one chance in a generation. The 2006 mid-term elections will probably become a dramatic example in future political science studies of what can happen when politicians (who have been seeking their own agenda) are thoroughly chastened by the voters.

Defiantly, Republicans refused through the night of the election to acknowledge that their own miserable performance for six years during their majority role in Congress was in any way responsible for the predictable outcome – an outcome for which John McCain personally bears a heavy responsibility. Finally, Rush Limbaugh brought some talk-radio clarity the next day when he said he felt “relieved” that he would no longer be expected to carry the Republican’s water – which is what the conservatives have said for a long time before the election and voters en masse said at the polls.

Try to imagine the pilot of an aircraft that crashes (hopefully injuring no one) that attempts to blame bystanders on the ground for his inept piloting skills. Imagine the student who blames his failure on his teacher. Imagine the wing-nut who blames the 9/11 attack that destroyed the World Trade Center on Americans instead of Islam. Imagine the media who blames a brutal homicide on the past molestation of the suspect when she was a child. Imagine the ignorance and racial hatred embedded in the claim that New Orleans was destroyed because the President blew up the levees. Imagine the Republican Party who blames their defeat at the polls on the ignorance of the electorate. You have to wonder who Republicans would blame for the ignorance of the electorate – the Democrats?

One could reasonably argue that Republicans deserved their inglorious defeat. However, a similar argument can be made that conservative Americans really don’t deserve the Democratic Party’s upcoming socialist agenda, an agenda that will entail cultural and economic havoc rendered by Nancy Pelosi with shock and awe, maybe not immediately if she is smart, but certainly after the 2008 national elections when a Democrat will likely to prevail in the ultimate political quest for the Office of the Presidency.

It is hard to envision, stretching the imagination to the limits, that Republicans will be able to reconstitute a creditable image of competency and ethics, and particularly conservatism, by November 2008. Political observers might begrudgingly concede that there are less than five conservatives remaining in all of Congress. What is most impressive is that there will be more conservatives in the freshman class of the Democratic Party than the entire Republican Party. The Democratic Party strategy will be to continue their assault on Republicans alleging political malfeasance, without relenting for a minute, right on through the 2008 elections. While there are viable Republican candidates in 2008, e.g., John McCain and Rudolph Giuliani and Tom Tancredo, only Tancredo is both socially and fiscally conservative. While a genuine long-shot, don’t rule out the Libertarian Ron Paul from Texas.

Democrats have been waiting a long time for such an opportunity, and if history is a valid predictor, you have never seen a train wreck like this one is going to be. President Bush had better begin sleeping with his “veto pen.” Make no mistake - President Bush's use of the “veto pen” for the next two years will be used by the Democrats to bludgeon Republican candidates in the 2008 elections.

Red State Patriot

Posted November 10, 2006 02:31 PM
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