I am scheduled for a colonoscopy Thursday morning which means I am fasting and purging today what Democrats are doing in their pants.
The nomination of Tea Party Republicans has sent shock waves through Democrats and many centralists. The apologists are protesting not to worry. Come November the public cannot be that stupid.
(See Joe Gandelman’s roundup here.)
I’m not that sure. Politics are local, certainly in closed primaries of small states where the Tea Party success is strongest. If their victories in Delaware, New Hampshire, Alaska, Utah, Colorado and Kentucky were on a presidential electoral college stage, they wouldn’t mean much.
But Tea Party victories in the primaries combined with strong conservative Republicans in the largest states such as Texas, California, Florida and Pennsylvania, the groundswell for taking over both houses of Congress becomes imminent.
If they sweep the boards in the November midterm elections, the stage is set for the grand prize in 2012: The President of the United States. Think Sarah Palin as the most viable standard bearer at this point in time.
We are experiencing a perfect political storm stacked in favor of a nation gone conservative for a variety of wrong reasons and a few good ones.
The foremost problem of concern is the dreadful state of the economy which politicians from both parties are exploiting to the hilt by stoking the fears of the electorate. Angry citizens are showing their wrath by throwing out the perceived rascals. Voters are a lot like sports fans, asking “What have you done for me lately.” Right or wrong, incumbents and establishment candidates are the easiest to blame.
As many as two thirds of voters will not bother.
I don’t consider myself the typical Democratic voter. I will vote come hell or high water. But I refuse to vote the party line if some klutz is on the ticket.
As a Californian, I reside in a gerrymandered district that favors Republicans. As most voters, my mind is set in wet cement two months in advance whom I plan to vote for.
The choices are gawd awful.
My congressman is Rep. Dan Issa, the Republican who stands a chance of becoming chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee. He promises to conduct a political witch hunt once his committee controls subpoena power. His Democratic challenger stands as much chance of winning as a candidate did running against Saddam Hussein. I will vote for Issa.
For U.S. Senate, I will hold my nose and vote for Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer. It is a case of which poison, Frick or Frack. In a toss-up like that, I must vote the party line. Carly Fiorina lacks the panache although I concede she is an expert at cutting jobs. It took her successor at Hewlit-Packard to restore order in the company of which she was essentially fired.
For governor, I am willing to take a chance on Meg Whitman. The old Democratic warhorse Jerry Brown no longer cuts it. Whitman will learn quickly the Democratic controlled California legislature is not as manipulative as the EBay board of directors and the electorate more unruly than her former shareholders. Lots of luck getting a budget passed when it takes a two-thirds majority.
This is what I mean by politics is local, even in the most populous of our 50 states.
The question that bugs me is whether the Tea Party Republicans can govern. Or whether they really want to.
It is one thing to promise cutting taxes, reducing spending, privatizing Social Security, repealing the health care reform act, diluting the financial reform regulations and getting the government off our backs except for in our bedrooms.
It is another thing to actually rescue the economy and restore jobs, credit and those evasive standards we call freedom which so often make fools of ourselves.
I view this conservative surge as a temporary reaction in a political pendulum that forever is tilting left to right, right to left and usually ending up somewhere close to center.
From a political observer, this next session of Congress will be fun to watch. The Senate, in particular.
Just think of all those Democratic purists who called for reform of Senate procedures to abolish Rule 12 and the filibuster. The tables have turned, guys and gals.
Suddenly, the filibuster is the last gasp of a minority — even when it may be a majority – holding on for dear life and killing every piece of legislation the Tea Party Republicans and their conservative brethren have to offer.
We’ve heard that song sung for the past two years and all it produced was legislative cacophony.
Unless we have a new pack of one-term legislators in Congress, I would suggest this new breed better add a 10-letter word to their vocabulary.
Compromise.
Excuse, me. Nature calls.
(istockpile cartoon)
Cross posted on The Remmers Report
Comments are welcome. Link to my blogsite or go to my email address at [email protected] . Remmers’ varied career spans 26 years in the newspaper business. Read a more thorough resume on The Remmers Report.
Jerry Remmers worked 26 years in the newspaper business. His last 23 years was with the Evening Tribune in San Diego where assignments included reporter, assistant city editor, county and politics editor.