Geniuses George W. Bush and Karl Rove had the attitude that their Republican and conservative base (aka “the suckers”) had no choice but to vote GOP. Such arrogance resulted in Bush and Rove having a rude, 1992-style awakening.
Immediately after the 2004 election, many Republicans smugly predicted that the GOP would rule – as in, both houses of Congress and the White House – for fifty years. Well, this must be the year 2054, because it’s over. Republicans were crushed in House races, losing at least 23 seats, and even in the Senate, where although the dust has not yet settled, it looks as though the Democrats have also won the Senate.
Everything worked for the Democrats – gay-baiting, in the case of Cong. Mark Foley (R-FL), and race-baiting, in the case of Sen. George Allen (R-VA), the Jewish junior senator from Virginia. (Don’t accuse me of Jew-baiting – he’s one of my people!) When Democrat congressmen sleep with underaged pages, they respond by showing contempt to Congress, but when a Republican congressman sends “salacious correspondence†to pages, he not only must resign, but be the target of a criminal investigation. If only Foley had been a socialist, he’d have been celebrated by the media and the Democrats, or at least given a pass. (After all, when a Democrat accuses you of lusting after young boys, he’s complimenting you, the way tenured gay academics speak fondly of old Aaron Copland’s lecherous ways.) And as for racism, were Democrats held to the same standards, there wouldn’t be a Congressional Black Caucus. (I’m sorry, but there is just no clean way to talk about such garbage.)
The wrong conclusions are almost guaranteed to be drawn from this election. The media are not yet talking about the President’s base, which stayed home. I’ve been saying for months that George W. Bush holds his Christian Evangelical base in contempt. (May 28: “And to sweeten the pot for his social and religious conservative base (or as Karl Rove would call it, ‘the suckers’), he will propose a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.â€ÂÂ
One month before the election, the Evangelical advisor who was one of the people who had initially run the White House’s faith-based initiative, came out with a book in which he told of White House aides rolling their eyes about Evangelicals, and speaking derisively of prominent Evangelical leaders as “nuts.â€ÂÂ
I guess “the suckers†didn’t fall for GOP campaign posturing on gay marriage, and its supposed toughness on terrorism. So, who’re the suckers?!
The media and other politicians are going to see this election purely as a referendum on the war, while ignoring the President’s Open Borders policy.
As Fox News’ Shepherd Smith observed late Tuesday night, once the carnage was unmistakable, “There has never been a civilization in history that has survived that hasn’t controlled its own borders.â€ÂÂ
Smith also quipped, regarding the close Virginia senate race, in which conservative Democrat former Navy Secretary James Webb currently (2 a.m., Wednesday morning) leads neoconservative Republican Sen. George Allen by 5,700 votes, “Virginia is for Lawyers.†“There will be a recount, and then there will be lawyers.â€ÂÂ
As far as the war is concerned, will any of our best and brightest rethink their approach to warfare? Don’t hold your breath. If our leaders continue to construe of “war†in such a vague, open-ended, utopian fashion (“nation-building,†“exporting democracy,†etc.), then no matter how many victories our side achieves, they will keep expanding the mission until we are defeated. And if we fight “multicultural†wars, in which the rules of engagement are perverted, and our troops require the permission of lawyers (female, natch), before they may fire on a terrorist leader; and our soldiers and Marines must stand by and watch while the streets erupt in chaos and looting, so that the media will not show white American men killing Arabs; if the enemy is permitted to turn mosques into ammo dumps, mustering centers, and embattlements, while our boys are handcuffed from fighting accordingly; and if we are not so much as permitted to name the enemy, or to even name our operations as we see fit, because it might offend the enemy, then we might as well all bend over for the Religion of Terror right now, because America will never win another war under those terms.
Yet another mistake was in claiming that all people, everywhere, want the same things we do (peace and democracy). Arabs will die before they’ll accept peace, and they will vote, if necessary, to end democracy.
There was a realpolitik case to be made for war, and I made it in early 2003. But I never supported a multicultural war.
Many conservative and Republican voters stayed home over immigration. While I can’t say how many did, it was enough to tip Congress over to the Democrats. The two geniuses, George W. Bush and Karl Rove, can take credit for that, though I doubt they will.
Far from ruling for fifty years, if an amnesty – “wearing such deliberate disguises†– goes through, the GOP may never control Congress again. But that would suit George W. Bush, who is busily at work abolishing America in favor of a North America Union, just fine.
