Ace of Spades HQ

« If your goal is to destroy Israel, I guess it only makes sense | Main | Ministry of Stupid Game Show Contestant Links »

January 22, 2006

2006 Mid-Terms

I am not looking forward to the 2006 mid-term elections. I fear that some of the bad mojo that the Republicans have been involved in will come home to roost.

My biggest gripe about Bush and the Congressional Republicans is that they have left their first love. Coming to power in 1994, the Republicans promised smaller government and less corruption. The past few budget years have seen Republicans gleefully spending my tax dollars like they are drunken Democrats. Under Bush and the Republican Congress, the size of the U.S. government has grown.

What gives guys? Seriously? Is it the power? Is that what makes you lose your way?

The funny/sad thing is that the Democrats were tossed out in 1994 because Americans saw them as out of control spenders, sucking on the tit of the American taxpayer. The American people felt that their representatives were out of touch with the things that mattered to them. So they tossed the bums out.

This may happen to the Republicans, if not this election, then maybe the next one. We can only ride national security so long. I think the American people now know that they cannot trust the Democrats with their security. But see the thing is, there has not been another terrorist attack in the U.S. Sure there is Iraq and now Iran, but the average American could honestly care less about those places. Those places are so far away and they do not think that what happens over there will affect them over here. As long as there is work and cheap gas, they are happy. I disagree with them because I see that events in Iraq and Iran DO matter to the continental U.S. But because nothing is directly affecting them, the American people may put the national security on the back burner in order to toss out the current batch of bums.

But, will the Republican Party see this weakness or not? It does not seem to me that Bush sees it. I guess this is what he meant by Compassionate Conservatism. I get my tax cut but he still grows the size of government.

The thing I am most dreading is the Press.

If there is a net loss of seats for Republicans, even if it is just one seat, watch the MSM spin it as the American people are fed up with Bush and the Republicans. They will harp on this supposed shift for the next two years until the actual event is given birth in 2008. We all know they will do this. Hell, they did it last year with the few Governor races out there. They tried to extrapolate those results to 2006 and 2008. It is tiresome pointing this out. The MSM wants Bush and the Republicans to lose so badly, they will do everything in their power to further that goal.

It would not bother me if our papers were like the ones in Europe. Over there you have the Left wing paper and the Right wing paper. All efforts at being unbiased are tossed out the window. That is great. At least you, the reader, KNOW what you are getting. If The York Times came out today and said that they are a Left wing paper and that they will support Left wing ideology and agendas, then I would actually have respect for them. I have NO respect for them while they stay hidden behind this supposed veil of impartiality. Toss that veil aside and be honest. It is ok. Let the people decide what version of reality they want to read....

Ah, now I see why they don't...money.

Anyway. I hope there is either a net gain for Republicans or it is a zero sum game. At least that way I will not have to listen to the MSM drone on and on about what this means for Republicans.

posted by WunderKraut at 12:51 PM

Comments

The important thing is too retain power; even if it's only by one seat in the House and a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

If we lose seats, two things can happen. Our Republicans will wake-up and put their house in order by rediscovering conservatism, or they will see their colleague's losses as sign of the electorate moving to the Left.

If they shift to the Left to chase the polls, we will lose in '08, '10, '12, ...

Tuesday's Senate vote on Alito will tell us where are Senators stand. If they cross party lines, it's a bad sign. I expect Chaffee to vote with his fellow Liberals. That's no surprise. But all the others have no good reason to vote No on Alito.

Alito's confirmation vote could be delayed by the Dems, too. If our leadership allows this to happen it is also a bad sign. Bush is to balme for Altio's delay. Judge Alito should have been on the Court last November. The ill-advised nomination of Harriet Miers is still haunting us and won't go away until Alito is confirmed.

Posted by: Bart on January 22, 2006 01:17 PM

Oh... because I forgot... we only have one paper in the US. The NYT. I must be getting toilet paper delivered to my house. I mean I feel like some of the other papers, Washington Times, NY Daily Post etc are crap, but they are not the NYT.

Posted by: Craig on January 22, 2006 02:01 PM

I just got a mailing from my (Republican) Congressman. It shows pride in many millions of dollars of projects in our district for which he got Federal tax money. And as I review the list, I cannot see one single project that I would consider a proper concern of the Federal government. Instead of ending this system of tax-and-waste, they just signed on and continued it. Aside from national security issues, there is no difference between the parties.

Posted by: lmg on January 22, 2006 02:46 PM

Craig,

I did not mean by singling out The New York Times that they are the only ones guilty. Same thing goes for Fox News. Fair and balanced...bah. Just come out and say it, “We are a Conservative news outlet.” Same with The Washington Times like you said.

My point is that the MSM, both right and left, need to just come out and be honest about what their agenda is. There is nothing wrong with that. I feel it would lead to better reporting on both sides. We all know that the MSM is biased for and against certain things, but they try to hide behind a wall of "impartiality". Get rid of that wall and tell us what you think.

Posted by: WunderKraut on January 22, 2006 04:00 PM

Craig, There is no NY Daily Post. There is a New York Post, which leans right; and a New York Daily News, which leans left.

Posted by: abe shorey on January 22, 2006 04:12 PM

I don't think it's enough for them to state their bias - they also need to remove their bias from their actual news reporting and news selection. All I have to do is read one of mediactrity's posts on the nyt's coverage of Israel to know what a problem bias in news reporting is.

See

target="_blank" class="text">http://mediacrity.blogspot.com/

Posted by: max on January 22, 2006 06:41 PM

Still, it would be better to take the hit in '06, and wake up in time to take '08.

Posted by: Tom M on January 23, 2006 12:36 AM

Um, the polls indicate that the American people sure are fed up with Bush, don't know about Republicans more generally.

This is the wartime president who managed to move his polls from about 80% approval to 51% in 3 years after 9/11.

Cut him loose and Republicans will do fine.

Posted by: searp on January 24, 2006 12:49 PM

Amazon.com Widgets

Now Available!
The Deplorable Gourmet
A Horde-sourced Cookbook
[All profits go to charity]

Top Headlines

Podcast: Sefton and CBD are joined by Jeff Carter, candidate for NV treasurer, and seasoned finance professional, for a discussion of the issues facing Nevadans, and the larger financial challenges in America.

TJM explores the movies of David Lean, director of Lawrence of Arabia

Few people remember that Norm MacDonald began his career as a ventriloquist
MacDonald's old partner Adam Egot revealed that MacDonald repurposed a bit with one of his ventriloquist dolls -- that he was a "bad guy" who "didn't believe the Holocaust happened" -- for the Norm MacDonald show, in which he claimed Egot didn't believe in the Holocaust.

Funniest thing I've read about the Virginia mess. Back when they were hustling the referendum through the assembly both Senators, Warner and Kaine, advised them to go slow and play by the rules. Louise Lucas said she respected them but didn't need advice from the "cuck chair" in the corner. The gerrymandering was overturned and Louise is heading for the big house. Edward G. Robinson voice "where's your cuck now?"
Posted by: Smell the Glove

I posted his post on twitter and it's gotten 25K views so far. Thanks, Smell the Glove

Chris
@chriswithans

"Ahhhhh ahh I put my career on the line for Louise Lucas and Jay Jones thinking they'd vault me into presidential contention and we ended up costing Democrats 20 House seats and unleashing a Reverse Dobbs ahhhhh ahhh"

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click That Sums Up the Democrat Communist Party Today
Something is wrong as I hold you near
Somebody else holds your heart, yeah
You turn to me with your icy tears
And then it's raining, feels like it's raining

TJM wonders about world building in stories, mostly The Hunger Games

"It's f**king f**ked."
-- reportedly a genuine comment offered by a "senior Labour source"
Correction: I wrote that Labour is losing 88% (now 87%) of the seats it is "defending." I think that's wrong. The right way to say it is the seats they are contesting -- that is, they don't necessarily already hold these seats, but they have put up a candidate to run for the seat. It's still very bad but not as bad as losing 87% of the seats they already held.

Basil the Great
@BasilTheGreat

🚨ED MILIBAND [a Minister in Starmer's government] SAYS KEIR STARMER WILL RESIGN AS PRIME MINISTER

He has reportedly reassured Labour MP's that Starmer will be resigning following the disastrous results tonight

It's over

"The end of the two party system in the UK" as first the Fake Conservatives and now Labour chooses political suicide rather than simply STOPPING THE INVASION
Incidentally, the only reason this didn't already happen in the US is because of the Very Bad Orange Man (who is right on 85% of all policy calls and extremely, existentially right on 15% of them)

No political party that is NOT also a doomsday religious cult would EVER choose a cataclysmic loss -- and possible extinction as a party -- to support a toxically unpopular favoritism of NON-CITIZEN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS over actual citizen voters.

Only a cult does this.

Now they've lost 84%.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg
@zatzi
If this continues Labour loses 2,148 seats tonight.

That is much worse than the worst case predictions I’ve seen.

Cataclysmic

Update: They've now lost 88% of the seats they're defending. As I mentioned earlier, I think I heard that London will not bail them out, as many of those Labour seats will probably flip to "Muslim Independent" or Green. Detroit's 5am vote will not save them.

Yup, Labour is losing 80% of its seats...

The British Patriot
@TheBritLad

🚨 BREAKING: Labour have lost 80% of all seats contested as of 2:25 AM.<
br> If this continues, Keir Starmer will be out of office next week.

Reform has surged and projected to pick up between 1700-2100 seats.

Wow, up to 1700-2100 seats. It's not incredible that this is happening. It's incredible that the Davos crowd is so absolutely determined to privilege Muslim "migrants" over the actual native population who elects them, no matter how loudly the natives scream that they want to be prioritized, that they will gladly self-extinguish as a party rather than simply representing the interests of their own voters. Astonishing.
Remember, when they call other people "cultists" -- they are the ones so imprisoned in their social reinforcement and discipline bubbles that they will choose political death rather than dare upset the Karen Enforcement Officers of their cult.
Update: Now they've lost 83% of the seats they were defending.

(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges

Reform are basically wiping Labour out in the North. It's not a defeat. It's not even a rout. Labour are simply ceasing to exist.

Nick Lowles
@lowles_nick

Tonight’s results are calamitous for Labour. Not just for Keir Starmer's leadership, but for the very future of the party

STARMERGEDDON: In early returns, Reform gains 135 seats, Labour loses 90, the Fake Conservatives lose 36 (and I didn't even know they could fall any further), the Lib Dems lose 4, and the Greens gain 6. Note that the only other party gaining seats is the Greens and they're only gaining a handful of seats.
Update: Reform now up 145, Labour down 98.
Labour projected to lose Wales -- where they've ruled for 27 years.
Fulton County Georgia just discovered 400 boxes of ballots for Labour
Update: REF +156, LAB -107, CON -45
Brutal: In four out of five council seats where Labour is defending, they've lost. 80%.
I'm sure it's not this simple, but Reform is straight taking Labour's and the "Conservatives'" seats. They've lost almost exactly what Reform gained. If understand this right (and warning, I probably don't), all of London's council seats are up for election, and Labour might lose hugely there, as their old voters abandon them for Reform, Muslim Indenpendents, and the Greens.
REF +190, LAB -134, CON -56.

Updates on the Labour collapse in council elections -- which wags are calling #Starmergeddon -- from Beege Welborne. There are about 5000 seats up for grabs, Labour is expected to lose 1,800, Reform will probably gain 1,580, up from... zero. So this would be more than that.
People claim that while Labour has adopted the Sharia Agenda to appeal to the million Muslims it allowed to migrate to the country, those voters are ditching Labour to vote for the Muslim Independent Party or the Greens. Delicious. This shadenfreude is going straight to my thighs.
Oh, and if Starmer loses about as badly as expected, Labour will toss him out of a window Braveheart style and replace him. He will announce he is resigning to spend more time with his Gay Ukrainian Male Prostitutes.

Media bias and senationalism are as old as, well, the media:

That was written by Denny O'Neill and illustrated by, get this, Frank Miller. Editor to the Stars Jim Shooter was in charge at the time.
I always thought the gag was original to the comic book, but in fact the "Threat or Menace" headline was a satirical joke about media bias and sensationalism for a long while. The Harvard Lampoon used it in a parody of Life magazine: "Flying Saucers: Threat or Menace?"

Hamas is Humiliating Trump's 'Board of Peace'
[Hat Tip: TC] [CBD]

Tucker Carlson is pretty sure Trump is a wizard

Ted Turner Dies At 87 [CBD]