Travlinman be in da Enquirer!

[LanDroid]

I just cracked open Sunday's Forum section and noticed a certain letter to the editor. I must say it is very well written, has goodlified logic, and stuff (heh, in contrast to this sentence).

'Bout all I can say is:
1. Moderate Dems are more liberal than Republirats.
2. Dems will not be Bush sycophants like the Republirats. We've had enough of that.
3. Many Republirats are happy about the results because of Bush's irresponsible fiscal policies.
4. If a Republirat wins the Presidency in '08, that will not be "the biggest flip flop yet" since a Republirat currently holds that office. So yes indeed, 08 may very be "the biggest flip flop yet".

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 20, 2006 06:21 AM: Message edited by: LanDroid ]</font>

[cincygreg]

Hadnt read the forum section yet, I'll have to check that out.

[Lew]

I saw that, too, and I was gonna comment on it but Lan beat me to the punch.

I think both of them were in Sunday's Enquirer, actually. You may also notice, among the ubiquitous ads, there was an ad for snowblowers (I think Toro) and they showed this hot chick clearing a driveway and I'm pretty sure it's Gae.

I am actually looking forward to 2008. As ugly as these past two elections have been, one positive thing is that turnout has been higher than in the recent past. The ideologues from both sides always turned out to vote, but it's those dreaded undecided centrists who usually stayed home. Hopefully they will continue to show up and vote in droves, that forces both sides to try to court them by not appearing to be so extreme.

[reason]

I have trav's well-written letter sitting underneath my living room end table for safe-keeping. I like his logic, but he didn't get it totally right.

Trav says the Dems candidates won the election, but the Repubs won on issues.

Not so fast.

To totally separate candidates from issues doesn't make sense.

Consider:

The gay marriage amendment is dead. Stem cell research in South Dakota passed. The civil union/gay marriage law failed in Arizona. Jean Schmidt won by only 3,000 votes in a gimme district, even while relentlessly pounding the gay marriage issue.

The Bush Administration thought the numerous gay marriage laws up for vote in many states would bring out votes for his candidates. It didn't happen.

The biggest loser in this election is Bush's base - the religious right. Trav acknowledged the Dem's move to the center but ignored the Republican's similar move.

The Republs lost primarily because of One Key Issue: Iraq.

They lost because of another key issue: corruption.

The republicans have made a habit of defining morality exclusively in terms of sex, even while corruption on the state and national level are rampant.

What you saw in this last election was a shift if the definition of morality - war lies, corruption, widening wealth disparities are moved to the forefront while idiotic hot button issues like gay marriage are losing steam.

This election *was* about issues where the Republicans have failed miserably.

[Lew]

To extend one item Reason mentioned....

Mean Jean has now been elected twice, and I suppose she can say that the bottom line is she won, but both elections have been very close and, more importantly, both have required the expenditure of a lot of money. This was a district that Portman (and before him Willis Gradison) won effortlessly and without having to drop much coin.

It will be interesting to see how her own party continues to treat her. They don't like having to spend money and attention on what should be such an easy district for them.