Even though the November elections are still nine months away, the battle lines are being drawn and if nothing else, 2010 promises to be a figurative fight to the death between two fundamentally different ideologies. The left still doesn’t understand what has happened. They are used to doing battle with Conservatism and their tactics have always relied heavily on Alinsky’s strategy of framing the arguments and controlling the press to sway the opinion of the masses. That methodology is usually centered on having a villain on which to focus America’s anger. The rich, the Republicans, the economy, the environment and even some phantom persona known only as “the system” were all brought under fire at one point or another and with varying degrees of success.
This time it’s different and it is frustrating and confusing Progressive politicos. For the first time, the opposition they find themselves fighting are the American people themselves. In early debates over healthcare reform, they challenged the sincerity, identity and patriotism of those that were protesting against this government planned takeover of our healthcare system. What they failed to identify in time was that the protestors were not a fringe group of ultra right-wing anti-Obama radicals or some orchestrated attempt to catch media attention paid for by the RNC, PACs or members of the health industry. The protestors were in fact, regular people that for the first time were fearful enough about the direction this country was heading to have organized themselves in neighborhoods and communities, eventually taking to the streets en mass in Washington and at Congressional offices around the country.
How can this be? Conservatives don’t protest! Moderates don’t protest! Why, they write letters or better still, quietly mumble their discontent at the newscasters on TV and radio in the comfort of their own homes; but in the end, they just lie down and take it. Tax increases, fees, fines, new regulations and government bureaucracies were all things that they hated but historically, would eventually accept because unlike the radical left, they had grown up believing that “you can’t fight City Hall”. Before the left realized the real source of this movement, Nancy Pelosi had called them manufactured, Harry Reid called them a mob, the liberal press called them (and some still do) racists or the disgusting and derogatory term “Tea-baggers”, President Obama called them inconsequential and SEIU goons were out violently stomping on people handing out Tea Party literature.
In August 2009, a man was peacefully handing out flags in front of a Tea Party gathering in Missouri was confronted by a group of angry thugs. Kenneth Gladney, who happened to be black, was thrown to the ground by the gang of counter-protestors wearing SEIU shirts, who then beat and kicked him while peppering him with racial epithets. Local law enforcement in St. Louis, where the incident happened, took months to investigate; eventually charging several of the assailants with the misdemeanor equivalent of disorderly conduct. Another violent incident occurred in September of 2009 at a rally opposing healthcare reform in Thousand Oaks California. This time, the assault would send a 65 year old man to the hospital after a portion of his finger had been savagely bitten off by one of the counter protestors bused in by MoveOn.Org, a civilian group organized by the Democratic Party. The results would be the same with local law enforcement pursuing the assault as vigorously as they would for littering. The official lack of concern for these “hate crimes” were obviously driven by unspoken support for Obama and his unofficial army, which only served to enrage Tea Party Patriots even more.
Beyond the protests at town hall meetings and in the streets of DC, the visible backlash of ignoring this movement became visible in November of 2009. The gubernatorial race in Virginia was won by Republican Bob McDonnel but the shocker came in traditionally Democratic haven of New Jersey when Republican Chris Christie unseated Democratic Governor Jon Corzine despite last minute visits by Party big-wigs and President Obama himself. Most savvy politicians would have recognized the warning signs and sought to mend the fences between the people and the Party but not Obama. He pressed on demanding that Congress act on healthcare even though the unemployment rate had by then, surpassed 10% and most people were screaming “It’s the economy stupid!”
To make matters worse, Harry Reid closed Republicans out of the debate and took healthcare behind closed doors obviously, because the people could no longer be trusted. Congressional Democrats voted against a proposed bill that would require them to publish the completed bill on-line at lease 72 before a vote and then the special $300 million dollar deal to purchase Louisiana Democrat, Senator Mary Landrieu’s vote made it to the news. If that were not a large enough insult, the cost of the Cornhusker deal for Democrat Ben Nelson’s vote can’t even be calculated. Nelson’s State, Nebraska, would be exempt from the increases in Medicare liabilities the healthcare bill will force on every other State, not for the two or three years that Mary prostituted herself for, but in perpetuity. It was these deals that turned anger into rage and despite the public outcry, the Senate would pass the bill in a rare late-night, weekend session and the House would follow suit, forcing a vote along Party lines on Christmas Eve. Immediately after the vote, Pelosi stood there with her vacuous smile announcing that what a wonderful Christmas gift this was for the American people.
The result of that entire session of Congress, those deals, that vote and the open disdain Congress had for the American people through the whole process cemented the Tea Parties until they had become a unified movement. The level of angered directed at Congress finally boiled over and the unthinkable happened. Republican Scott Brown won the special election to fill the Senate seat vacated through the death of Ted Kennedy. This election took place in one of the most Liberal States of the Union to fill the vacancy left by one of the most historically Liberal members of the Senate. The White House was so sure that this seat was securely Democratic that they didn’t even bother to campaign in Massachusetts until the poll numbers showed Coakley trailing Brown a week before the election.
Strike three and your out, right? Well, not of you are Barack Obama and you are on a mission to “fundamentally transform” the United States of America. The President spoke before Democrats after the Brown election and tried to ignore the loss of his filibuster proof majority in the Senate by joking that “the Republicans were bragging about their 41 to 59 majority”, reminding Senate Democrats that they still held the bulk of power. He then took his show on the road and tried to garner support from some of the more moderate Republicans in an attempt to shame them to support his agenda or face accusations of obstruction. Rush Limbaugh correctly pointed out that if the bill is bad for America then being called names should be the least of their concerns. Instead of worrying about being called “the Party of no” they should stand proud and declare that they are “The Party of NO MORE!”
We can already see Progressive Democrats circling the wagons and the one thing they know how to do is shape opinion within the Party. By November, they will all be using the same ads and catch phrases; carefully selected words and images from the millions they are spending on focus groups to see what will fool you into forgetting what they did last year. Apparently the statute of limitations has not run out on blaming Bush and the latest take on that is that Obama doesn’t have to take credit for the rise in unemployment or for the failure of the economy to respond to the Stimulus Bill because Bush had caused much more damage than originally estimated. Some might even believe the Bush connection if business owners and investors weren’t standing on hilltops yelling out that it is their uncertainty of the future because of Obama’s agenda that has prevented any real recovery. No one is willing to hire or expand until they know what next years taxes and energy costs will look like and that is what responsible business owners must do to survive.
I think we all have an idea what the Democratic strategy will be. We’ve seen it before and the only reason it worked then was that Democrats were running against their Republican challengers and not an opposition movement of so many angry Americans. The Republicans would be wise to listen to what is being said because the mood out there is not largely an anti-Obama or even anti-Democrat movement; it is an anti-incumbent movement and the people that win will be the people that have worked hard to regain the trust of a very wary and disenchanted public.
The Democrats have badly damaged their chances in the upcoming election so they have twice as far to go as the Republicans do. That does not mean the Republicans can coast to the finish line and if they are smart, they will put down the newspapers, turn off CNN and visit their home towns. They should listen carefully to the issues their constituents have raised and most of all, they must remember that the last time there was a tangible difference between Democrats and Republicans in the public perception, was during the Conservative Revolution of Ronald Reagan. The People elected George H.W. Bush believing he would carry on the work begun by Reagan and he failed to honor his most basic promise of not raising taxes. They elected George W. Bush after another 8 years under the embarrassing behavior of Bill Clinton, hoping “W” had learned from his father’s mistakes, but he had not. Barack Obama did not win the election by promising to be a radical, tax and spend Liberal, he won by promising change to a people that felt betrayed by two Republicans that failed to act like Republicans.
Tomorrow: some tough love for Republicans.
Paul
This time it’s different and it is frustrating and confusing Progressive politicos. For the first time, the opposition they find themselves fighting are the American people themselves. In early debates over healthcare reform, they challenged the sincerity, identity and patriotism of those that were protesting against this government planned takeover of our healthcare system. What they failed to identify in time was that the protestors were not a fringe group of ultra right-wing anti-Obama radicals or some orchestrated attempt to catch media attention paid for by the RNC, PACs or members of the health industry. The protestors were in fact, regular people that for the first time were fearful enough about the direction this country was heading to have organized themselves in neighborhoods and communities, eventually taking to the streets en mass in Washington and at Congressional offices around the country.
How can this be? Conservatives don’t protest! Moderates don’t protest! Why, they write letters or better still, quietly mumble their discontent at the newscasters on TV and radio in the comfort of their own homes; but in the end, they just lie down and take it. Tax increases, fees, fines, new regulations and government bureaucracies were all things that they hated but historically, would eventually accept because unlike the radical left, they had grown up believing that “you can’t fight City Hall”. Before the left realized the real source of this movement, Nancy Pelosi had called them manufactured, Harry Reid called them a mob, the liberal press called them (and some still do) racists or the disgusting and derogatory term “Tea-baggers”, President Obama called them inconsequential and SEIU goons were out violently stomping on people handing out Tea Party literature.
In August 2009, a man was peacefully handing out flags in front of a Tea Party gathering in Missouri was confronted by a group of angry thugs. Kenneth Gladney, who happened to be black, was thrown to the ground by the gang of counter-protestors wearing SEIU shirts, who then beat and kicked him while peppering him with racial epithets. Local law enforcement in St. Louis, where the incident happened, took months to investigate; eventually charging several of the assailants with the misdemeanor equivalent of disorderly conduct. Another violent incident occurred in September of 2009 at a rally opposing healthcare reform in Thousand Oaks California. This time, the assault would send a 65 year old man to the hospital after a portion of his finger had been savagely bitten off by one of the counter protestors bused in by MoveOn.Org, a civilian group organized by the Democratic Party. The results would be the same with local law enforcement pursuing the assault as vigorously as they would for littering. The official lack of concern for these “hate crimes” were obviously driven by unspoken support for Obama and his unofficial army, which only served to enrage Tea Party Patriots even more.
Beyond the protests at town hall meetings and in the streets of DC, the visible backlash of ignoring this movement became visible in November of 2009. The gubernatorial race in Virginia was won by Republican Bob McDonnel but the shocker came in traditionally Democratic haven of New Jersey when Republican Chris Christie unseated Democratic Governor Jon Corzine despite last minute visits by Party big-wigs and President Obama himself. Most savvy politicians would have recognized the warning signs and sought to mend the fences between the people and the Party but not Obama. He pressed on demanding that Congress act on healthcare even though the unemployment rate had by then, surpassed 10% and most people were screaming “It’s the economy stupid!”
To make matters worse, Harry Reid closed Republicans out of the debate and took healthcare behind closed doors obviously, because the people could no longer be trusted. Congressional Democrats voted against a proposed bill that would require them to publish the completed bill on-line at lease 72 before a vote and then the special $300 million dollar deal to purchase Louisiana Democrat, Senator Mary Landrieu’s vote made it to the news. If that were not a large enough insult, the cost of the Cornhusker deal for Democrat Ben Nelson’s vote can’t even be calculated. Nelson’s State, Nebraska, would be exempt from the increases in Medicare liabilities the healthcare bill will force on every other State, not for the two or three years that Mary prostituted herself for, but in perpetuity. It was these deals that turned anger into rage and despite the public outcry, the Senate would pass the bill in a rare late-night, weekend session and the House would follow suit, forcing a vote along Party lines on Christmas Eve. Immediately after the vote, Pelosi stood there with her vacuous smile announcing that what a wonderful Christmas gift this was for the American people.
The result of that entire session of Congress, those deals, that vote and the open disdain Congress had for the American people through the whole process cemented the Tea Parties until they had become a unified movement. The level of angered directed at Congress finally boiled over and the unthinkable happened. Republican Scott Brown won the special election to fill the Senate seat vacated through the death of Ted Kennedy. This election took place in one of the most Liberal States of the Union to fill the vacancy left by one of the most historically Liberal members of the Senate. The White House was so sure that this seat was securely Democratic that they didn’t even bother to campaign in Massachusetts until the poll numbers showed Coakley trailing Brown a week before the election.
Strike three and your out, right? Well, not of you are Barack Obama and you are on a mission to “fundamentally transform” the United States of America. The President spoke before Democrats after the Brown election and tried to ignore the loss of his filibuster proof majority in the Senate by joking that “the Republicans were bragging about their 41 to 59 majority”, reminding Senate Democrats that they still held the bulk of power. He then took his show on the road and tried to garner support from some of the more moderate Republicans in an attempt to shame them to support his agenda or face accusations of obstruction. Rush Limbaugh correctly pointed out that if the bill is bad for America then being called names should be the least of their concerns. Instead of worrying about being called “the Party of no” they should stand proud and declare that they are “The Party of NO MORE!”
We can already see Progressive Democrats circling the wagons and the one thing they know how to do is shape opinion within the Party. By November, they will all be using the same ads and catch phrases; carefully selected words and images from the millions they are spending on focus groups to see what will fool you into forgetting what they did last year. Apparently the statute of limitations has not run out on blaming Bush and the latest take on that is that Obama doesn’t have to take credit for the rise in unemployment or for the failure of the economy to respond to the Stimulus Bill because Bush had caused much more damage than originally estimated. Some might even believe the Bush connection if business owners and investors weren’t standing on hilltops yelling out that it is their uncertainty of the future because of Obama’s agenda that has prevented any real recovery. No one is willing to hire or expand until they know what next years taxes and energy costs will look like and that is what responsible business owners must do to survive.
I think we all have an idea what the Democratic strategy will be. We’ve seen it before and the only reason it worked then was that Democrats were running against their Republican challengers and not an opposition movement of so many angry Americans. The Republicans would be wise to listen to what is being said because the mood out there is not largely an anti-Obama or even anti-Democrat movement; it is an anti-incumbent movement and the people that win will be the people that have worked hard to regain the trust of a very wary and disenchanted public.
The Democrats have badly damaged their chances in the upcoming election so they have twice as far to go as the Republicans do. That does not mean the Republicans can coast to the finish line and if they are smart, they will put down the newspapers, turn off CNN and visit their home towns. They should listen carefully to the issues their constituents have raised and most of all, they must remember that the last time there was a tangible difference between Democrats and Republicans in the public perception, was during the Conservative Revolution of Ronald Reagan. The People elected George H.W. Bush believing he would carry on the work begun by Reagan and he failed to honor his most basic promise of not raising taxes. They elected George W. Bush after another 8 years under the embarrassing behavior of Bill Clinton, hoping “W” had learned from his father’s mistakes, but he had not. Barack Obama did not win the election by promising to be a radical, tax and spend Liberal, he won by promising change to a people that felt betrayed by two Republicans that failed to act like Republicans.
Tomorrow: some tough love for Republicans.
Paul
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