Trending Toward Disaster?
In early October, a generic poll of voter congressional preferences by Gallup showed Democrats and Republicans tied at 46 percent. But it also showed that Republicans "maintain a substantial advantage" among likely voters regardless of whether turnout is high or low. What may be worse, the poll indicated that Republicans benefit from a higher representation among both likely voters and those considered independents. Meanwhile, according to the Rasmussen Report, during the first two weeks in October, just 32 percent of likely U.S. voters said the country is heading in the right direction, a percentage it described as "the highest level of optimism since late April."
Ready for Prime Time? Rand Paul thinks so
In total there are 138 Tea Party candidates - all Republican and many with more than a few screws loose - running nationwide in congressional or gubernatorial races. They range from guys who run around playing games in full Nazi regalia; to guys who run around talking like wise guys; to guys who hang out with members of criminal motorcycle gangs; to gals who pay guys to break chairs over the heads of other guys. According to the New York Times, there are 33 GOP/Tea Party candidates with good chances of winning their campaigns for House seats and 8 more who are running potentially successful Senate campaigns.
As for the Democrats, in addition to their current control of the House and Senate, they also control 26 out of 50 governorships but a total of 37 of them are up for grabs in November. Over the long run, Democrats may rue the loss of governorships more than any loss of congressional seats depending on the outcome of the 2010 census. This is because census numbers are the primary factor in determining legislative redistricting of congressional and state legislative lines, a task in which state governors play a significant role.
It's clear that we are trending toward a political and cultural relapse of unseen proportions. In and of itself, this should not too surprising considering the nation's high unemployment rate and its long history of the party in power losing seats in off-year elections. But who could have predicted that the type of pugnacious, "anything goes" political tactics of candidates and others aligned with the "Tea Party Patriots" would turn out to be the abhorrent force that politically offsets the "cult" of Obama? How many pundits or political analysts had predicted that this presumably obtuse movement, filled with candidates so lacking in finesse and professional polish, would have so swiftly met so many of the significant milestones in its crusade to wrest America from the liberal, Constitution-shredding interlopers holding their nation hostage to the channeled force of "Kenyan anti-colonialism?" Who'd have thought that at this point they'd be this close (sic) to actually pulling it off?
Chamber of Secrets
Certainly, it goes without saying that no national Republican campaign is complete these days without the input of old Turd Blossom himself, the clandestinely ubiquitous Karl Rove. This year is no different. When he's not assisting the New York Times in the realization of its own "fair and balanced" fantasy by parking his posterior in one of the Times' token conservative commentator slots, "Bush's brain" has been busy helping out GOP/Tea Party candidates by cooking up his usual warlock's brew of campaign dirty tricks. He's also been shelling out some of the over $50 million that he and old pal Ed Gillespie - the Michael Steele of the Bush years - have been able to pony up through Rove's American Crossroads political organization.
But beyond Rove's presence and input, which is to be expected, it's far more unlikely that progressives could have foreseen that the Supreme Court would tip the political scales by ruling that "paper" corporations as well as those made of brick, mortar and steel, are entitled to the same political rights as living, breathing human beings.
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