RSS Feed
Nov
A Bleak Morning
As I wake up this morning, I have calmed down somewhat. I was never really MAD, but last night was a night of disappointments. As I reflect back on the results that have come in so far and that are still coming in from the election, I can’t say that I am surprised completely. I felt the Republicans had a better chance than the polls gave them credit for, however. Yet I feel that, as much as I hate to say it, the GOP deserves this defeat.Do I think it is good for the country? Yes and no. I think that most of the Republican candidates forgot about their conservative roots that swept them into Congress in 1994 under the leadership of Next Gingrich. They got in control and grew government, grew spending, and, in general, increase the “crap” going on in Washington. What did the GOP campaign on? One issue: Iraq!
Do I think Iraq is going as poorly as the mainstream media has led us to believe it is? No I don’t. However, the GOP needed to focus on other things in this race—things people care about: reducing taxes, taking care of the illegal immigrant issue, Social Security. Conservatism!
So where do we go from here? Let me preface this by saying I am not a John McCain fan, and I think he has hurt the party with his liberal, wishy-washy backroom dealings with the Democrats. However, he said on Fox News last night that the Republicans must get back to being conservatives and quit growing government.
What do I see as the biggest problem that came out of last night? If we thought nothing has gotten done the last two year in Washington, simply wait for the next two. Their will be partisan bickering, subpoenas handed over investigating everything under the sun, and Democrats trying to undo 12 years of GOP actions. I believe we will see President Bush use his veto stamp more than the once he has used it in his first six years in office.
The scary part is that if the Senate goes the way of the Democrats, then judges become an issue. We may see vacancies on benches because no judges will be confirmed. Or else Bush will have to put moderate (read things into the Constitution that aren’t there) judges up for confirmation. It is looking like Virginia is in the hands of the Dems, so our only hope is a split by taking Montana. I don’t have any inside polling numbers on that, so we will just have to wait and see if Conrad Burns can overcome 1500 votes with only 1% of the vote outstanding. Of course there will be recounts in both races, but if you are not within 500-800 votes, you don’t stand much of a chance in a recount.
What glimmer of hope can I gleam from last night? There are a couple things. First, a lot of the Democrats that won House seats are “conservative” Democrats. It seems the Democratic Party realized more than the Republicans that this country wants conservatives in office. They may vote more conservative than Nance Pelosi wants them to. We will have to see. But at least it should be a clear message in 2008—America wants conservative leaders in Washington.
