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Conservatives took it on the chin Primary Day

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Started 2 years ago by pilsner
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pilsner

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The corporate media spin is that voters are fed up with Establishment candidates and incumbents. But the real story is that conservatives and their causes were the big losers. Progressive candidates and causes were the big winners:

1. The Democrat won the only federal election in the country in a race between a Dem and Repub to replace John Murtha in the U.S. House of Representatives. John McCain won that Pennsylvania district in a landslide in '08.

Fox News and Rush Limbaugh would be ranting how a Republican tidal wave was approaching in November had the Republican won that race.

2. Voters in Arizona passed a sales tax increase which will soften budget cuts showing that people value government services, regardless what the Tea Party screams.

Similarly, voters in Oregon passed a corporate tax increase last year.

3. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's hand-picked candidate was trounced in the Republican Senate primary by Rand Paul in Kentucky. McConnell is the most powerful elected Republican in the country. Rand Paul supports the decriminalization of marijuana and marriage rights for gays.

4. Progressive Joe Sestak beat moderate Arlen Specter in the Dem primary in Pennyslvania.

Prediction: Sestak will be elected President in 2016 and will govern like FDR.

5. Arkansas progressive Bill Halter had an outstanding result against Conserva-Dem Blanche Lincoln in their primary race for U.S. Senate and will have a run-off election.

6. Here in Ohio, progressive Jennifer Brunner had a better than expected result against Lee Fisher in the Dem primary for Senate despite Fisher outspending her 10 to 1.

Message to the White House and Congress, moooove to the left. Voters want progressive change.

Posted 2 years ago #
0Angle
A brewery or my kitchen or my bicycle.
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pilsner wrote >>

1. The Democrat won the only federal election in the country in a race between a Dem and Repub to replace John Murtha in the U.S. House of Representatives. John McCain won that Pennsylvania district in a landslide in '08.

I have relatives in that part of the state and sadly while primarily pro-union Dems, there is a horrendous amount of racism. My Uncle said "He wouldn't vote for somebody who's middle name is Hussein" I asked him what are Hillary and McCain's middle names in response. There were homemade anti-Obama signs everywhere. Johnstown, Pa. ~~A great place to~~ ~~visit~~, but I wouldn't want to live there...

Posted 2 years ago #
dru
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1992 - only Southern infused Democrats can win nationally
1994 - Republicans will take all 3 branches and rule for eternity
2004 - we're looking at a potential domination of Republicans via 'wedge' issues
2006 - Republicans on the run
2008 - Republican apocalypse, Democrats will rule for the next few cycles
2010 - Dems on the run, wait, make that all incumbents on the run

There is always a narrative. The problem is the narrative is usually national, and 30-years later Tip's exhortation that all politics is local remains true. There is no national narrative - tea-party or progressive - in these state primary and election votes. There is a reason the one primary nobody talked about was Oregon's, because Oregonians were Oregonian and nothing dramatic happened.

Posted 2 years ago #
pilsner

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O'bama sounds kind of Irish. I think those people in Johnstown would support him more if he'd govern like he campaigned.

Bush-lite policies aren't going to deliver the results to win in 2012.

Posted 2 years ago #
gramarye
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My narrative is "weak candidates lost." It's usually a pretty good narrative, so I've seldom had to revise it over the years. The blissfully partial circularity of the argument is a feature, not a bug.

Blanche Lincoln was considered weak against any GOP challenger. What's to lose by running someone else in the race (whether from Lincoln's right or left)? If what you're doing isn't working, try something else.

Specter was weak against Toomey. Heck, he left the GOP to escape having to run against Toomey from the center in the primary. Now the Democrats have basically said that they didn't much like Specter's chance to run against Toomey from the center, either, this time in the general. Sestak vs. Toomey will be a very good race. I'm not thrilled with either candidate, but I'll root for Toomey on the basis of him being the lesser of two evils (borrow-and-spend vs. borrow-even-more-and-spend).

Rand Paul vs. ... erm, wait, who was his opponent again? Exactly.

Posted 2 years ago #
pilsner

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gramarye wrote >>
Sestak vs. Toomey will be a very good race. I'm not thrilled with either candidate, but I'll root for Toomey on the basis of him being the lesser of two evils (borrow-and-spend vs. borrow-even-more-and-spend).
Rand Paul vs. ... erm, wait, who was his opponent again? Exactly.

Toomey is Republican. Let's see, the national debt went from $1 trillion up to $3 trillion during Reagan's presidency and from $5 trillion to $12 trillion during George W's watch. As Dr Phil would say, "how's that workin for ya?"

Rand Paul lost to the Trey Grayson who holds a state office and is a Mitch McConnell mini-me.

Posted 2 years ago #
Rick Carraway

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Rand Paul's victory scares me. He believes the Civil Rights Act should have not included a provision prohibiting private entities from discriminating against minorities.

Posted 2 years ago #
pilsner

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Rick Carraway wrote >>
Rand Paul's victory scares me. He believes the Civil Rights Act should have not included a provision prohibiting private entities from discriminating against minorities.

The Dem candidate running against Rand Paul is pretty progressive for Kentucky and will destroy him as long as no dead interns or other scandals arise.

Paul is anti-Israel and supports marriage equality for gays and that won't play well down there in the Bible belt.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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pilsner wrote >>
O'bama sounds kind of Irish.

See!
I knew he wasn't native born!

Posted 2 years ago #
gramarye
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pilsner wrote >>

Rick Carraway wrote >>
Rand Paul's victory scares me. He believes the Civil Rights Act should have not included a provision prohibiting private entities from discriminating against minorities.

The Dem candidate running against Rand Paul is pretty progressive for Kentucky and will destroy him as long as no dead interns or other scandals arise.
Paul is anti-Israel and supports marriage equality for gays and that won't play well down there in the Bible belt.

Yes, but do either of this issues distinguish him from his Democratic opponent?

Posted 2 years ago #
gramarye
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pilsner wrote >>

gramarye wrote >>
Sestak vs. Toomey will be a very good race. I'm not thrilled with either candidate, but I'll root for Toomey on the basis of him being the lesser of two evils (borrow-and-spend vs. borrow-even-more-and-spend).
Rand Paul vs. ... erm, wait, who was his opponent again? Exactly.

Toomey is Republican. Let's see the national debt went from $1 trillion up to $3 trillion during Reagan's presidency and from $5 trillion to $12 trillion during George W's watch. As Dr Phil would say, "how's that workin for ya?"

Not well ... but far better than Obama and the current crop of Democrats.

And Rand Paul, at the very least, has come out in favor of a balanced budget amendment.

Posted 2 years ago #
pilsner

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Put it this way, Rand Paul's nutty victory speech sounded similar to a victory speech given by Glenn Beck, if God forbid, Beck somehow was elected to any office, including dog catcher.

Rand Paul is gold for the Dems to pick up a Republican seat.

Posted 2 years ago #
kit444
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pilsner wrote >>

Rick Carraway wrote >>
Rand Paul's victory scares me. He believes the Civil Rights Act should have not included a provision prohibiting private entities from discriminating against minorities.

The Dem candidate running against Rand Paul is pretty progressive for Kentucky and will destroy him as long as no dead interns or other scandals arise.
Paul is anti-Israel and supports marriage equality for gays and that won't play well down there in the Bible belt.

Why do you assume a progressive candidate will do well in Kentucky?

Posted 2 years ago #
jimbach
Short North (WP division)
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kit444 wrote >>

pilsner wrote >>

Rick Carraway wrote >>
Rand Paul's victory scares me. He believes the Civil Rights Act should have not included a provision prohibiting private entities from discriminating against minorities.

The Dem candidate running against Rand Paul is pretty progressive for Kentucky and will destroy him as long as no dead interns or other scandals arise.
Paul is anti-Israel and supports marriage equality for gays and that won't play well down there in the Bible belt.

Why do you assume a progressive candidate will do well in Kentucky?

I think maybe the assumption is that Rand Paul will do poorly, giving the Democrats an excellent chance of picking up a seat they would probably have lost with a more conventional GOP candidate.

Posted 2 years ago #
pilsner

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I think economic progressives can do well just about anywhere. Look at Bernie Sanders in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Bush carried that rural, conservative area with 75% of the vote. They voted for Sanders with about the same percentage. Bernie also has a very high rating from the NRA.

Bill Halter in Arkansas is somewhat of an economic populist and it pressured Blanche Lincoln to introduce very anti-Wall Street banking provisions into the Financial Reform bill. Arkansasans want economic justice.

I don't expect a progressive Dem from Kentucky or Arkansas to be leading the way on social issues though.

Posted 2 years ago #
kit444
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I think you're going to be disappointed. Kentucky and Vermont are a proverbial apple and orange. Not all rural areas are the same. Plus, the outcome of a Democratic primary in a Southern state is not indicative of a trend toward economic progressivism. I think either Halter or Lincoln is probably toast in the general.

Posted 2 years ago #
pilsner

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We'll see. Populists come from some surprising places. Peter DeFazio represents a rural Oregon district that went for Bush. Alan Grayson's Florida district had been Republican for decades and he kicks ass. Montana Gov Brian Schweitzer is a populist.

I hope Blance Lincoln loses if she gets the nomination. Corporate Dems make it hard for voters to distinguish between the parties.

If Strickland is going to balance the state budget with just more cuts and not tax increases then I'd prefer Kasich. Let the Republicans to be ones to ruin people's lifes.

Posted 2 years ago #
gramarye
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Right, because tax increases make life so much better ...

Posted 2 years ago #
kit444
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pilsner wrote >>
We'll see. Populists come from some surprising places. Peter DeFazio represents a rural Oregon district that went for Bush. Alan Grayson's Florida district had been Republican for decades and he kicks ass. Montana Gov Brian Schweitzer is a populist.
I hope Blance Lincoln loses if she gets the nomination. Corporate Dems make it hard for voters to distinguish between the parties.
If Strickland is going to balance the state budget with just more cuts and not tax increases then I'd prefer Kasich. Let the Republicans to be ones to ruin people's lifes.

I really abhor that mentality. If you can't get a candidate that does everything you want, you'll go for the one that does nothing you want. For the sake of what? To be able to say "I told you so" at the end of the day?

Posted 2 years ago #
pilsner

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kit444 wrote >>

pilsner wrote >>
We'll see. Populists come from some surprising places. Peter DeFazio represents a rural Oregon district that went for Bush. Alan Grayson's Florida district had been Republican for decades and he kicks ass. Montana Gov Brian Schweitzer is a populist.
I hope Blance Lincoln loses if she gets the nomination. Corporate Dems make it hard for voters to distinguish between the parties.
If Strickland is going to balance the state budget with just more cuts and not tax increases then I'd prefer Kasich. Let the Republicans to be ones to ruin people's lifes.

I really abhor that mentality. If you can't get a candidate that does everything you want, you'll go for the one that does nothing you want. For the sake of what? To be able to say "I told you so" at the end of the day?

You're entitled to your opinion. I really hate people who think everyone should pick a side and support candidates no matter what. If Strickland is going to keep being Kasich-lite, then screw him, he doesn't belong in the Democratic Party, IMO. Democrats should return to standing up for the working class.

What's the current message of most of the Democratic Party to someone who isn't college material but plays by the rules? It's fuck you, get a $8/hour job flipping burgers because corporate Dems like Bubba Clinton and Obama support Free Trade deals and multi-national corporations outsourcing good manufacturing jobs to slave labor workers in China and Vietnam. And the companies getting a tax break in the process of outsourcing the jobs.

And, most of the current crop of Dems don't give a shit about college IT grads coming out of college with a shitload of debt and then letting IT companies bring in immigrants to do the work on H1B visas.

Posted 2 years ago #