You don't have to go home, but you have to get the hell out of here....
Things haven't been good for those guys lately...They're fresh off of a loss to President Obama who refused to blink at high noon and allowed them to risk sending the country off the financial cliff....They were forced to blink and back down without winning a single concession...
Largely because of that...They got shalacked again , two nights ago during the elections..
In Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, a flawed Democratic candidate who had some issues within his own party held off a late charge by Republican /Tea Party candidate Ken Cuccinelli in a polarizing campaign that exposed liabilities that could drag down both parties next year: President Barack Obama's health care overhaul for Democrats and a partial government shutdown for Republicans. This was an election that everybody said was Cuccinelli's to win...Turns out...It was his to lose.
Terry McAuliffe is a longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, giving the former secretary of state an important ally should she seek the White House again.
In Republican-friendly Alabama, Bradley Byrne, a lawyer backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, defeated Tea Party-backed candidate Dean Young in a special GOP primary to succeed retiring Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala. Byrne will be the heavy favorite in December to hold onto the congressional seat and gives business groups a victory over the Tea party. I spoke of this tred two weeks ago.
This was a predictably low turnout voting day....Far from the intensity of a presidential campaign, the low-turnout elections don't offer a greater meaning into the nation's political psyche. But Virginia and New Jersey often give parties clues to the electorate's mood heading into congressional elections.
The backdrop was a partial government shutdown triggered partly by Tea Party demands and a clunky rollout by the Obama administration of the health care law.
In Virginia, exit polls showed that about a third of voters said they were personally affected by the government shutdown, and those who were broke for Terry McAuliffe by nearly 20 points. But Ken Cuccinelli held a narrow edge among those who said health care was their top issue and 53 percent of all Virginia voters said they opposed the health care overhaul passed in 2010.
Tea party leaders and social conservatives said the state attorney general's vociferous opposition to the health care law narrowed the gap — even though it didn't overcome a fundraising disadvantage.
"This has got to be a real wakeup call for the Obama White House and Democrats in general," said Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. "If the tail of the Obamacare meltdown could have this kind of impact ... then I think they need to be really concerned about the red state Democratic seats" in the 2014 Senate elections.
A perfect example of what comedian Bill Mahr says is the far right's refusal to face reality and desire to live in a bubble..
Both New Jersey and Virginia offered overtones for the 2016 presidential race.
Chris Christie's advisers were quick to point out that the governor won a majority of women and boosted his support among black and Latino voters, showing that he could compete for voters who comprise Barack Obama's coalition. In New Jersey maybe...but in the rest of the country that has never heard of him...that's a big hmmmmmmmmmm!
For the Democrats, the election may make some wonder if Barbara Buono , who lost in a lop sided race against Chris Christie is this year's version of Garry Mauro, the Texas Democrat who lost to George W. Bush in another seemingly lopsided governor's race in 1998.
Some Democrats regretted not competing more aggressively against Bush, who captured the GOP nomination and won the White House in 2000.
Still it remains to be seen if Chris Christie's conservative-yet-pragmatic approach can win over Republicans in places like Iowa and South Carolina, where party loyalists may be skeptical of his post-superstorm Sandy alliance with President Obama and his commitment to conservatives on social issues.They jokingly refer to Chris Christie as
RINO..."Republican in Name Only" in Tea Party circles.
The Democrats' win in Virginia gives a boost to the Clinton campaign model of attracting moderates and business-oriented voters while driving turnout among women.
TerryMcAuliffe's narrow victory rested on a 9-point edge among women and could offer Democratic candidates in 2014 a model for winning in swing-voting territory — especially if President Obama's support is weakened.
Both Chris Christie and Terry McAuliffe outspent their opponents by large margins and aired tough TV ads months before the election to negatively define their opponents, stealing a page from President Obama's playbook against Republican Mitt Romney. No matter the election, the tactics matter.
"We shouldn't lose focus on the fundamentals," said Republican strategist Martin Baker, a former adviser to Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign. He said the races are "textbook examples that money and mechanics remain critical to a successful campaign."
Well We knew that....
If you want my honest assesment of what I saw... Is that people don't want to swing too far left or right...and that they are looking for sensible,pragmatic people who can work with a cross section of people...
Democratic wins in New York City and Boston's Mayoral race as well as Cory Booker's Senate win send positive messages also....
No...The Tea Party isn't over yet....but 2:00 am looms!
1 comment:
Yeah!! and I'll sing, "It's late and I want to go home; I'm tired and I'd like to go to bed..." These tea party republicans have been wearing me out for the last few months. Tuesday night when I saw the Virginia early report I screamed because Cuccinelli was ahead. I watched several episodes of Big Bang and went back to MSNBC where i was pleasantly surprised with the McAuliffe win. For the folks in New Jersey, I'm sorry but they get what they deserve!! If they could cast a vote for a man who doesn't respect them, the adults, or their children, then they deserve whatever that mean-evil-fat-ass gives them. Christie cut schools, teachers salaries and pension, state workers salaries and pensions and won't raise the minimum wage. When questioned by the very people who put him in office, he response is vitriolic. I could smack that Shaq for endorsing him. Will Shaq's kids ever be in a public school? Will Shaq ever be concerned about property taxes? Shaq's already retired. Does he have to worry about his pension being reduced? Then he should have shut the hell up!! Some folks don't need to offer opinions.
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