Imagine the Republican Party’s post-Halloween nightmare or perhaps better known as “Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue:The Democrats win very big on Election night which includes (along with Joe Lieberman and other independents) a filibuster-proof margin and control of the White House.
That is the doomsday scenario being propagated by John McCain and other Republican candidates and proxies.It is a neat way to say vote for McCain, John Kennedy and many of the other Republican candidates on the bubbleIf the election were held today, it could be their main argument.From all indications, American voters are taking out their ire (for better or for worse and for right or wrong) on George Bush, John McCain (by association) and even big name Republicans such as Senators Mitch McConnell (Republican Leader) of Kentucky and Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina in states where the Republican party is almost kin to religion.
In the middle of this tension is a recent poll by Rasmussen that shows that Senator Mary Landrieu has a ten point lead over her opponent John Kennedy.Although many people including this writer believe that number will drop, Landrieu will almost certainly prevail if she gets the turnout.
So, if you are the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican party, where would you spend your precious money?Do you fund John Kennedy who Rasmussen has given John Kennedy a ten percent chance of winning or do you prop up the campaigns of already-existing Republican Senators with seniority and name recognition such as McConnell and Dole?
You can bet there is a fierce tug-of-war going on nationally over the “precious green” as if it were Tolkien’s ring.While both the Kennedy and Landrieu camps have claimed their own internal polls are totally different from that of Rasmussen’s, until there is another independent poll that comes out, most news articles and political contributors are going to go with Rasmussen’s numbers.
The main question is will the National Republican Senatorial Committee stick with Kennedy and therefore prime his money pump?Or will they go off and see some wizardry in the wonderful world of other US Senate campaigns and back those who have a better chance of winning and who certainly have more clout in the Senate?
Which scenarios also put two major Republicans, David Vitter and Bobby Jindal on the “hot seat”.It has been widely reported that Vitter was instrumental in Kennedy running against Landrieu.Some still claim he got the National Republicans to cut commercials although both he and the National Republican Senatorial Committee deny this allegation.Also, Bobby Jindal could have sat on the sidelines in this election but he decided to cut commercials for John Kennedy and now for Republican Bill Cassidy against new Democratic Congressman Don Cazayoux.Should Kennedy lose, both Jindal’s and Vitter’s political tails will get even shorter.Jindal supported Woody Jenkins in the 6th Congressional District.Should Cazayoux, Landrieu and Obama prevail, Jindal has played the partisan game against those who could control the much needed post-Hurricane money come Election Day.In essence, Jindal will have burned some bridges he probably did not need to torch.Let’s hope that should the Democrats prevail, they will put what is right over politics and will continue their commitments to Louisiana who has suffered horribly these past few years, who are facing budget shortages and who are still very vulnerable to future hurricanes.
Yet, the pundits and pollsters might be totally wrong.John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the Republican Congressional candidates could pull off victories in what could be the “Mother of all Hail Mary’s”.They could win the Presidency and keep the Congressional margins close.After all, in reality, the polls are really imperfect sciences even if pollsters, pundits and politicians are willing to place their careers on the line in getting it right.
The morning odds--one week and one day away from Election Day--appear to favor Landrieu in Louisiana and the “Blue” throughout the nation and the issue could be “how big might the victory be”.
With the party top brands careers on the line, with an independent poll indicating that Landrieu is a shoo-in, with the Shreveport Times and the New Orleans Gambit Weekly already stepping out in her favor, with the Times Picayune supporting Barack Obama, with former Mr. Republican Party and former Louisiana Governor Dave Treen giving Landrieu his backing, you have to wonder if some strings are not being pulled in Washington to move chips to other states.John Kennedy, a new Republican has been saying that John McCain and Bobby Jindal are his type of guys.Don’t be surprised if few--other than David Vitter’s, the Louisiana Republican Party’s and perhaps Governor Jindal’s apparatuses will be the most institutional support Kennedy gets as national republicans get the “Halloween spooks” and scramble this week to put money on the races they know they absolutely must not lose.
It is interesting to note that the annual poppy production by Afghan farmers nets around $700 million.... If that amount were divided equally amongst the countries 32 million+ inhabitants, that only amounts to around $21.00 each.... Yet Afghanistan only devotes 4.5% or so of its cropland to the production of this commodity, and yet produces 92% of the world’s supply of opium….. On the streets the value of that opium supply is calculated to be approximately $3.5 billion and is increased in value each time it is put through an additional refining process…….. It would be interesting to ask what the cost for that trade in the United States equates to in the areas of Gross dollars….. additional crime, crime prevention dollars, burden to society……. Of equal interest or importance would be the Cocaine trade that originates in South American Countries….. Written by
on 10/28/2008
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I have respect for McCain, however, he is not a ‘brilliant strategist’ and Iraq and Afghanistan are both water under the bridge… At this point in time when considering current approaches...... And as far as Democrat leadership on the world stage? In its current format that is like relying upon tuna fish to protect our coast……… I suppose that approach would be workable, that is if you live in a cartoon………. however they more closely resemble food or fodder than they do protection….. Oh well, you can tune a piano, but you can’t Tuna fish I suppose… The current situation we are faced with where Asian/Middle Eastern confluxes and domestic as well as a certain degree of global security could be concerned require an escalated presence of ‘embedded intel’ groups coupled with a more homogenized utilization of ‘sensing/shadowing’ technology while subsequently reducing the numbers, but not the values, of physical troop presence currently stationed in Iraq… Afghanistan requires smaller, more elite combat units…… U.S.M.C. Force Recon, Army Ranger , British Royal Marine, and Royal Australian Regiments are ideally situated to handle the rigors of that environment….. These forces should be complimented on a scale of 15:1 with mercenary recruit functions from Thailand, Bhutan, Morocco, Papua New Guinea…. For intel reconnaissance it would be wise to recruit from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistani, Tajikistani, Afghanistan, tribal camps…. with a guaranteed residency and some form of pension for continued service somewhere nice like the Maldives or the Andaman & Nicobar Islands……. For the general population values of Afghanistan housing initiatives should be initiated…. Housing that is durable, inexpensive, and rapid to establish… On the production front a decline in poppy production would be desirable substituted with a diversification in grain productions, perhaps an increase in wheat, barley, milo, and sorghum production with processing capacitates for export trade is a benefit that would serve the population well.. It would be proper to consider that additional hydro-electric production in the order of around 300 million k Wh per year should be implemented….. And for wind energy, in the Southwestern sections of Afghanistan there are around 40 square miles of area that could possibly be above excellent power generation sites….. This could be utilized for energy export by Afghanistan to Iran….. Or it could supplement the local grid with surplus hydro-electric power generation capacity being exportable….. Afghanistan would perhaps be an excellent area to invest in hydroponics pursuits that could be operated by the local population….. Afghanistan has adequate natural gas reserves in estimate that this sector of industry could be exponated upon with exports to China and Russia being a viable avenue for additional revenue generation, Coupled with pipeline construction technology and supervision in a joint effort between the United States and Afghanistan… This should reduce Taliban influences and tension and provide for a leveraged improvement upon the common Afghani population reducing both risk and exposure to the United States from a security and a financial standpoint… Written by
on 10/28/2008
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The intelligence community was decimated by Clinton for 8 years. We got away from having agents inside and relied on fancy technical means of spying, which have been proven to be less effective than agents on the ground in the ot spots around the world. We were attacked on Sept 11th and many brave Americans were killed. Thank God that Al Gore was not our President. Many of you liberals apparently do not remember Colin Powell's very persuasive arguments before the UN and know he is the media darling of the liberal left media. As far as the right wing of the party disowning Bush, nah. If Obama wins the conservatives will take the party back over and get back to representing the people. If Obama wins, Marxism, taxes, and a Carter like 4 years may bring the left leaning democrats back to the middle, but I doubt it. They are wrapped up in special interests and may never get back to the party that our Father's supported. Written by Sid
on 10/28/2008
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Yes...now the Right Wing Base is disowning Bush whom they absolutely adored not that long ago. But I have to agree on that competence and having the judgment and temperament to be president and do the job do transcend politics and ideology. Bush OTOH has been, up until very recently, all about ideology and politics ahead of everything and that's exactly the problem. Wouldn't a competent president have wanted the get the objective facts from the CIA, etc. about the situation in Iraq *before* committing to invade and occupy for an indefinite time instead of committing to invade first and then wanting to hear only an analysis that would justify that commitment? Wouldn't a competent president have paid full attention to the signs prior to 9/11/2001 that something was about to happen terror-attack instead of being so pre-occupied with missile defense? Wouldn't a competent president have taken care of first things first and finished off the job in Afghanistan before undertaking a massive new project in Iraq? McCain used to be "competence first" as one to whom moderates could turn but now he's run away from that and instead kowtowed to the Right Wing Base with this whole "country first" baloney while running a very erratic campaign in general, leaving us in the middle without an alternative. Written by Moderate Independent Voice
on 10/27/2008
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George Bush and his Neo-cons - the far right? Hardly. "Globalists" is a more accurate label. And globalists transcend political ideology. Those on the right only voted for Bush because the alternative was absolutely unacceptable. But as one and all can see, other than for a half-hearted war on terrorism, the results were the same. Written by jackamo
on 10/27/2008
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The question is whether the GOP sticks with Reagan-ism of the 21st century or goes back to a truer conservative or what could be called center-right vision with the emphasis mostly on fiscal prudence and modest progressivism along with greatly lessened stridence and intolerance on social issues. If Obama wins he will have won by making a more effective appeal than McCain to the "quieter majority" who have had enough of the excesses of the Bush regime and the far right that have been foisted upon this country all these years. Written by Moderate Independent Voice
on 10/27/2008
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Excellant points Randall. Congress has a lower approval rating than the President, but the focuws is on Bush. Great strategy by the democrats. Written by Sid
on 10/27/2008
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Randall, you hit a bullseye even if I cannot see it myself. I think Laura Bush is voting Democrat this year. It is an amazing disgrace. Written by Mr. Magoo
on 10/27/2008
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George W. Bush has completely destroyed and decimated the conservative movement and the Republican Party. The election of '06 was a complete wipeout and bloodbath for the republicans, and '08 looks much bleaker. Wtih W. at 23% popularity in the polls, the worst ever--even lower than Nixon when he resigned in disgrace and the democrats had a supermajority that year because of Nixon's shame and unpopularity--W. has managed to top Tricky Dicky. Because of Bush's incredible bullheadedness, obstinate and instransigent nature and his sheer, unmitigated arrogance, republicans face the very real possibility of a filibuster proof senate, a democrat in the White House and the loss of another anywhere from 15 to 25 house seat. John Kennedy finds himself running against Bush's pathetic poll numbers, a terrible economy, an unpopular war that was supposed to last 30 days and has lasted almost six years post "mission accomplished". In any other year, Mary Landrieu would be beatable and the underdog. Mr. Magoo could run this year as a democrat and be favored. Thanks George---"heckuva job". The republicans and the conservative movement could have remained the majority party for decades to come had not bullheaded George been a one-man wrecking crew. With enemies like George Bush, democrats don't need any friends to win! President Obama--enjoy your filibuster proof senate and your 90 seat majority in the house--compliments of George W. Bush. Written by Randall
on 10/27/2008
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