The Problems That Come With What's Considered "Electability"

Not to rip open old Mike Castle/Christine O'Donnell wounds and rub salt in them. This does not concern them. Well, just a little to help set up some context.

It is more along the lines of declaring a certain candidate unelectable and focusing on the one that is 'electable'. A rift that I think will be forming here in Virginia with the primary between Jamie Ratdke and George Allen.

More often than not, the 'electable' candidate is the one who sells out conservative interests for votes. Mike Castle is the easy pick to demonstrate this example. Many of the issues that matter, he would vote against. Cap and Trade. Abortion. Illegal Immigration (I'm going with my gut on this one because I can't remember for sure but I think it's a safe bet). Is there any indication in this guy's past to show that he would vote the right way when it would come to something like repealing the incandescent light bulb ban? No. But yet I was told to shut up, get in line and be happy that a "Republican" might win.

How is electing a quish of a Republican like Mike Castle going to turn back the wheels of an ever increasing federal state?

The same thing is happening in Virginia. Jamie Ratdke is running for Senate, same with George Allen.

People are saying that Ratdke is unelectable right out. One such person is my friend Beth (not a strawman. Or strawwoman). Ratdke is to the right of Allen but people say she's unlectable.

Let the primary do it's job and see who wins then.

I'm not blind to the fact that we need a lot more Republicans elected to the Senate to undo anything of importance but if more Scott Browns are elected who do vote for crap like the Frank/Dodd Regulatory bill, what's the use? Someone said this in the comments over at Spade's shack (can't remember where) but it went something like: Need enough Republicans to win the House. Need enough Republicans to win the Senate. Need enough Republicans to win a veto proof Congress and to win the Presidency. And to keep that way they can't do anything controversial.

Conventional thinking like that does not repeal light bulb bans.

Short of a Great Communicator emerging, I don't see the answer.

It's A Sad Commentary When Cracked Magazine Is Able To More Accurately Report On A Story Than The Actual News Media

Mainly, anything that related to the Tea Party.

For all those wackjob birthers captured on film wearing frilly lady blouses and triangle hats, there were thousands of ordinary people just living their lives, being regular, and not liking how their Republican Party had turned out. And even though Tea Party members tend to skew toward older, middle-class white guys, their overall demographics aren't that far from the rest of the country. Of course, regular people are about as riveting as dry toast, so they didn't get much screen time. Which is why it came as such a shock to everyone when 32 percent of Tea Party-affiliated candidates won their elections.

By focusing in on the assclowns the media painted a picture that not only wasn't accurate, but pretty much made constructive political discourse impossible. They didn't just fail to do their job -- they did the opposite of their job, and they've been doing it for years.

Like back in the 1960s, when they homed in on long-haired hippies dancing like spazzes and plugging every orifice they could with flowers, then declared these ding-dongs the voice of their generation. In reality, most kids from the 60s never looked like that or behaved that way, but that doesn't mean they inherently supported the war in Vietnam or were opposed to civil rights. They just weren't part of the hippie fringe. Look at your mom's (or grandma's?) yearbook if you don't believe us. Or look at this picture from Woodstock.

In case you can't tell, most of the guys are sporting relatively short hair ... at Woodstock.

So when we watched coverage of O'Donnell and the Tea Party this year, we were only getting the bonkers half of the picture. Now that CNN is teaming up with the Tea Party Express to host the Republican debates next year, we'll probably see a lot fewer costumed revolutionaries. But everyone will just assume the Tea Party cleaned up its act, when in reality it will be CNN.

Be sure to read the entire thing. Even the Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien dust up that. . . Wasn't.

One More Follow Up About Christine O'Donnell. . .

Then I'm quitting the navel gazing and moving on.

I'm taking a liberty in saying that most people who vote in the primaries are the people who follow politics with this. Sure, there are the few who vote their civic duty but by and large, they follow this stuff, read blogs and are the more informed segment when it comes to candidates and issues.

Christine O'Donnell was a known quantity to the voters in Delaware. She had ran for Senate numerous times. Even a write-in drive against Joe Biden in 08 (To which he subsequently resigned to be Vice President and hand picked his successor to keep the seat to be in the Democrat column). Yet the voters chose her over Mike Castle, who was an even more well known quantity to the voters who were informed.

And as bad as her perceived flaws were*, she still won the Delaware primary. She was a choice, not an echo.

Update: Linked in the sidebar at The Other McCain.

*O'Donnell was disorganized more than anything. She would cancel appearances at the last moment when they needed to be made. And never got out in front of the narrative. The messaging always controlled her. Part of it could have been solved with a better candidate and on it goes**. If I invent the sure-fire method of winning elections, I'm charging $75,000 a month for them. A bargain considering GOP strategist Mike Murphy was charging $90,000 in California.

**Mike Castle was the "Better Candidate" but was passed over for O'Donnell. O'Donnell needed to be a better candidate like Mike Castle in order to win the general election. But Castle lost the primary instead. Yes, it's a Cliff's Notes version of what happened and the aftermath in Delaware.

Christine O'Donnell: Mea Culpa?

I see that Robert Stacy has another postmortem about Delaware— as if another one was needed— and I’ve been putting off doing mine so here it is.

Am I at fault for losing control of the US Senate by supporting Christine O’Donnell over Mike Castle and Chris Coons? No.

Need more?

The most grievous charge against Christine O'Donnell is that not only did she lose her race, she lost others as well. Usually, the names names Ken Buck in Colorado and Dino Rossi in Washington are dropped. I have to cry bullshit on that. A race in Delaware affects races two time zones away?

If— this is not an admission— that was the case, then Pat Toomey would have been affected as well. Much of Delaware is a suburb of Philadelphia. O’Donnell needed to advertise on Philly TV in order to cover a significant portion of the population in Delaware. Why didn’t she tank Toomey? He won.

It’s more about finger pointing and what-ifs more than anything else. It was said that Mike Castle had a proven track record— until he didn’t— with voters in Delaware and would have easily won the election-- until he lost.

So by that logic Linda McMahon should have had a cake walk with the proven liar that is Dick Blumenthal. She was the establishment pick by the GOP and the NRSC. She distanced herself from Sarah Palin and any Tea Parties. Yet she was soundly beaten by a guy who most likely to be typecast as a pedophile in most movies.

McMahon ran against Peter Schiff and Rob Simmons in the GOP Primary for Connecticut, both of whom were superior candidates. Schiff is an economic prophet and Rob Simmons is a certified war hero. On paper, she should have been dead last to the other two. But money talked and McMahon had the deepest pockets of the three.

But I have yet to see the spit on the sidewalk when people mention Linda McMahon’s race. No snarky ‘recriminations’ postings about her. No one is wailing in the streets wearing sackcloth and ashes. Her loss was almost as bad as Christine O’Donnell’s. If anything, McMahon’s loss is more directly related with the loss of Joe DioGuardi and Jay Townsend in New York. Connecticut is as much of a suburb of New York City as Delaware is of Philly.

I think most if the blame being directed toward O’Donnell is due to the fact that the Tea Party and Sarah Palin supported her. O’Donnell obviously wasn’t the party pick so with her loss the GOP and others are throwing their arms out of socket pointing towards her direction and blaming her from the 'potential control' of the Senate to their food coma they had on Thanksgiving.

Out of spite, the GOP and many others on the right-- acting as an echo chamber for the MFM-- repeated all the charges that the MFM has said about O'Donnell. She’s a religious kook, a witch (burn her), she’s paranoid, she turned Karl Rove inot a newt (he got better) and personally lost control of the Senate despite all evidence to the contrary.

If you wonder why she was thought to be paranoid, consider this. She didn’t receive any help from the Delaware Republican party. She was bad mouthed by Karl Rove repeatedly the very night of her primary win. And it took the NRSC about a day to try to squelch rumors that they weren’t going to support her. Any wonder where she might get the feeling that they were out to get her?

She had her faults. She was poorly organized with her campaign. I have it on good authority that they weren't really expecting to win the primary. The “I’m not a witch” ad was awful. The multiple cancellations for TV interviews. I think she stumbled out of the primary gate and never was able to find her footing. Understandable considering she was getting pummeled by both sides of the isle, which really isn’t an excuse but a statement of what happened to her.

What I know about her is that she wasn’t the strongest candidate but I still would have preferred her over Mike Castle any day of the week.

So do I still need to offer a mea culpa? I did miss-read the Big Red Wave, after all. Why take the ‘safe’ bet of Mike Castle when all the odds look to be in your favor?

Well, if you consider the recent vote in the Senate, chances are that Castle would have been one more Republican voting for the Farm bill that needed to be defeated.

So no, I don’t need to say I’m sorry for supporting O’Donnell.

If anyone says that O’Donnell lost someone else’s election, look behind that person. There is either a party loyalist hack or a wannabe party player saying that.

Do you know what was really scary about Christine O’Donnell? Nothing about being a witch or human sacrifice or that she was going to ban masturbation. It was that even though she was a known quantity in Delaware— she ran several times for office before— the rank and file of Republican voters rejected the party’s pick of Mike Castle. It wasn’t who she was but what she represented. She was a choice, not an echo. A departure from the normal power brokers and gave the people a real choice in that election.

That’s the real crime she is guilty of.

A Couple Of Notes For The Weekend

Have a busy weekend so to hit upon a few things before my big weekend of community organizing (I'm helping to coach my daughter's soccer team. If that's not community organizing, I don't know what is).

Ten Buck Fridays? Bob has it covered.

Billy Boy Ayers getting rejected? Ace has that.

Snappy comebacks for Christine O'Donnell? Robert Stacy has that. Seriously, if dabbling in witchcraft as a teenager is an issue, then shouldn't an admission of sniffing coke in an autobiography as a twenty year old be one as well? Of the two, sniffing coke is actually against the law. Even in California.

Klavan on the Culture? Yep, Doug has that.

I would like to take this moment to wish my brother in law congratulations. He is retiring after 20 years of service to our country with the Navy.

And finally, for your random clip of Michael Savage goodness:



Update: By popular demand (Okay, by one demand), More about Bill Ayers being denied emeritus faculty status.

More From Harry Reid's "Pet"

Makes you wonder if Reid beats him with the bully stick if Coons is caught sleeping on the couch.

Chris Coons, Democrat running for Senate in Delaware against Christine O'Donnell, wanted to put a tax on cell phones using 911.

O'Donneell hit her two million dollar mark, by the way. A very nice money bomb indeed.

Thanks to Cubachi. Yes, it's one word. Like Cher, Sting and Madonna.

Shocking New Info About Chris Coons

If you need any more of a reason to vote for Christine O'Donnell.

One of these two men was told he is a good "pet". The other paled around with hookers.

Exclusive: The Cover Art To Karl Rove's New Book

Rove is a numbers and strategist type of guy to some degree. But he is also an entrenched Republican Party guy too. Which may explain his temper tantrum the last couple of days. To paraphrase Rush, I’ve never heard him as agitated against a Democrat as he was against Christine O’Donnell.

It's his job to tell the numbers. But as a Republican, he's also needed to keep his mouth shut about all the "Nutty" lies that are being spread about Christine O'Donnell. Say something like "She'll need to work hard to close the gap in the poll numbers." The election is in November. There is time for her to do that. What you don't do is give the Democrats soundbites to use in a commercial.

I would give him a little bit of credit but I'm certain this wasn't planned. His tirade on Sean Hannity helped O'Donnell into her million plus money bomb. I don't think he was smart enough pull that off. Especially in light of him trying to talk the Tea Party backers into switching their support from O'Donnell to Mike Castle.

Elections has consequences. This time out, it happened to be Mike Castle on the blunt end of the ballot box.

Thanks to Sinistar over at Conservatives 4 Palin for the book cover.

This Was Mighty Big Of Him

John Cornyn emailed me to say, "She is the nominee and I am in charge of the NRSC. I guess I ought to do something".

Let there be no mistake: The National Republican Senatorial Committee – and I personally as the committee’s chairman – strongly stand by all of our Republican nominees, including Christine O’Donnell in Delaware.

The larger issue is why was this letter of clarification sent out if there was any confusion on the matter?

Christine O’Donnell Wins The Primary Delaware

The balloons have barely even begun to fall at Christine O’Donnell's victory party when the NRSC spilled the beans. They won't support her in the general election unless she manages to close the gap in the polls.

Do not expect national Republicans to rally around Christine O'Donnell and infuse much needed campaign cash into her campaign for Delaware's open Senate seat. The Tea Party favorite upset establishment backed Rep. Mike Castle Tuesday evening, and GOP officials are concerned that O'Donnell has no chance of winning the seat – once held by Vice President Biden for 26 years – in November.

Last year, the pundits told me that Marco Rubio wouldn't win the primary in Florida, so the NRSC endorsed Charlie Crist.

Earlier this year, the pundits told me that a Republican couldn't win Teddy Kenney's old seat. Republican Scott Brown now serves Massachusetts.

Several months ago, the pundits told me that Rand Paul was a long shot for the Senate. He is now looking at another 'Rand Slide' to win the general.

A few months ago, the pundits told me that Bennett was the best we could hope for in Utah. Now, Bob Bennett will be out of a job come next year.

Last month, the pundits told me that Joe Miller was just a long shot. And he beat incumbent Lisa Murkowski.

And just yesterday, the pundits told me that Christine O'Donnell was unelectable. Next year, Mike Castle will join Murkowski and Bennett at the unemployment office.

Yet, Sarah Palin and the Tea Parties are a fringe movement who are ineffectual and out of touch. And being a moderate Republican is the only way you can win. Or something. At least that's what I'll be hearing in the MFM.

It's a big red wave that's coming this year.

Related: Noted dickhead Karl Rove didn't even wait for the first champagne cork to pop before trashing her on Sean Hannity's show.



So much for party unity.

But this puts Rove's temper tantrum into perspective:

Rove Tried to Cut a Deal For Castle With Tea Party- Teaparty News- The Collier Brothers

Sources at the Christine O’Donnell victory party revealed to The Freedomist that in December of last year Karl Rove met with Tea Party leaders in Dover, Delaware trying to get them to cut a “deal” in which they would leave Mike Castle alone and NOT support O’Donnell.

After being told in how many elections to shut up and vote for the liberal Republican for the sake of unity, it's now time for it to work the other way around and. . . Oh. Wait.

A Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) campaign source confirmed to The Hill late Tuesday that the longtime congressman will not be endorsing Christine O'Donnell.