More Election Rant
I am afraid.
Call me a pessimist, but tomorrow’s election doesn’t give me much hope for the Party and for America.
Not that I do not have confidence in the Party taking back the House, because we probably will, just barely. We probably won’t get the Senate, unless a few miracles happened, not the least here in Nevada. But even by some divine intervention that we win both Houses. Then what? Pelosi already said that impeachment of President Bush is out of the question, which I agree wholeheartedly; it is dangerous and will serve to mobilize the Right in future elections. She promised to keep Congress a lame-duck Congress. Fine, but that will just increase the antagonism of the general public toward our political institutions and the party systems. It will do nothing for the OUR party.
Any way you see it, it spells bad news for our party.
If the GOP saves both Houses, which I think is a real possibility seeing that even after all of those scandals that rocked the Grand Old Party and widened the gap, they still manage to make a come back in the last few days (according to Pew and a few other polls). Their GOTV is incredible. NPR did a news story on how each party is doing GOTV. It took Democrats TWO HOURS to canvass the same amount of households that took Republicans half an hour. I have lost my faith in Grassroot GOTV. By all means, we got a huge Grassroot GOTV effort in 2004, and look what happened. . . . They have money. Most importantly, they have their loyal bases that they can count on; even the Foley and Haggard scandals will not keep them at home. We only wish we have that kind of loyalties with our voters. . . we have trouble even keeping black and Latino votes, even in this anti-immigrant climate. Though we have extreme partisan issues like Stem Cells and Minimal Wage on many ballots this time (vs. their Marriage Amendment last time), we have not gained a big edge over the Republicans. If the GOP retains control, then Democrats are pretty much finished for a very long while. . .
If the Democrats win House, the Republicans still win because they still have control of the other half of the Legislature, the Judiciary, and the White House. They can easily blame all the shits that will happened between now til 2008 on the Dems in the House. Their conservative efforts and agendas may be stalled and perhaps even defeated, but what they gained is another reason to reenergize their bases for next election, making the Pelosi’s harbingering leadership a temporary post.
If Democrats win both Houses, it is not because they are the better alternative Party to the Republicans. Democrats win because voters are punishing the Republicans and Bush. We are not winning on the policies at all. All we say is that we don’t like Bush and that our opponent sided with Bush (see Carter vs. Ensign, Titus vs. Gibbon, Hafen vs. Porter). Fine. How are YOU going to make a difference?
Call me a pessimist, but tomorrow’s election doesn’t give me much hope for the Party and for America.
Not that I do not have confidence in the Party taking back the House, because we probably will, just barely. We probably won’t get the Senate, unless a few miracles happened, not the least here in Nevada. But even by some divine intervention that we win both Houses. Then what? Pelosi already said that impeachment of President Bush is out of the question, which I agree wholeheartedly; it is dangerous and will serve to mobilize the Right in future elections. She promised to keep Congress a lame-duck Congress. Fine, but that will just increase the antagonism of the general public toward our political institutions and the party systems. It will do nothing for the OUR party.
Any way you see it, it spells bad news for our party.
If the GOP saves both Houses, which I think is a real possibility seeing that even after all of those scandals that rocked the Grand Old Party and widened the gap, they still manage to make a come back in the last few days (according to Pew and a few other polls). Their GOTV is incredible. NPR did a news story on how each party is doing GOTV. It took Democrats TWO HOURS to canvass the same amount of households that took Republicans half an hour. I have lost my faith in Grassroot GOTV. By all means, we got a huge Grassroot GOTV effort in 2004, and look what happened. . . . They have money. Most importantly, they have their loyal bases that they can count on; even the Foley and Haggard scandals will not keep them at home. We only wish we have that kind of loyalties with our voters. . . we have trouble even keeping black and Latino votes, even in this anti-immigrant climate. Though we have extreme partisan issues like Stem Cells and Minimal Wage on many ballots this time (vs. their Marriage Amendment last time), we have not gained a big edge over the Republicans. If the GOP retains control, then Democrats are pretty much finished for a very long while. . .
If the Democrats win House, the Republicans still win because they still have control of the other half of the Legislature, the Judiciary, and the White House. They can easily blame all the shits that will happened between now til 2008 on the Dems in the House. Their conservative efforts and agendas may be stalled and perhaps even defeated, but what they gained is another reason to reenergize their bases for next election, making the Pelosi’s harbingering leadership a temporary post.
If Democrats win both Houses, it is not because they are the better alternative Party to the Republicans. Democrats win because voters are punishing the Republicans and Bush. We are not winning on the policies at all. All we say is that we don’t like Bush and that our opponent sided with Bush (see Carter vs. Ensign, Titus vs. Gibbon, Hafen vs. Porter). Fine. How are YOU going to make a difference?