Posted by
Real Guy on Thursday, October 05, 2006 2:54:07 PM
I haven’t had much chance to write lately. Changing jobs at my age is one of those things that a person just shouldn’t have to do. But other people have it worse than I do, so I’m not really complaining. I’m making excuses, but I’m not complaining.
Now, to the current political scene. Representative Foley is gone. Let’s get on with the business of winning this election. Part of that means challenging this foregone conclusion that we’re going to lose Congress. We don’t have to, you know.
I have a lot of friends who claim to be disgusted with the Republicans – the War in Iraq, bad conduct in the House, record deficits, illegal immigration, blah, blah, blah.
There definitely seems to be a throw-the-bums-out thing going on right now. Three things bother me about this.
- The entertainment value this has for the opposition (they are entirely too gleeful).
- The lack of foresight from people who would normally vote Republican (the “I’m just not gonna vote” types).
- The lack of will to counter on charges and counter-charges about misconduct, Iraq, illegal immigration, etc.
Entertainment Value: the tawdry nature of the Foley scandal has caught more than its share of news cycles as every cub reporter in the nation searches the blogs, chat rooms, and emails of the land high and low to come up with one more shred of titillaton to sustain the story.
This story should be over. Foley resigned, but that’s apparently not enough. Clinton didn’t resign. Barney Frank didn’t resign. Foley did. Why can’t our side get the “let’s move on” message out over the cacophony?
My feeling is that we have too few credible public speakers who can frame this properly and put it back in the box. Nobody’s out selling the “Democrats have no message” theme loudly enough. Where is the man or woman who could tie this thing up and move on? I don’t know. Apparently, Speaker of the House Denny Hastert’s responses about taking action when he knew enough to take action won’t placate the sharks in the pool. Speaker Hastert isn’t a very dynamic interview, in case you haven’t heard him. He comes across as an honest guy, but a little less than sure of himself on his answers.
Oh,yeah, and if I hear one more reporter infer (as if it is fact) that the Republican loss of Foley’s seat will almost definitely tip the House election in the Democrat’s favor I’m going to lose my lunch.
Lack of Foresight: This election isn’t about deficits or misbehavior. It’s about winning the war, keeping taxes low, maintaining the safety and security of American citizens, sustaining the economy, and confirming good judges who don’t invent their own interpretations of the constitution. That’s the message. The Democrat message is “we hate the Bush administration.”
Get out and vote, will ya? Vote for national security and economic prosperity. Don’t vote for spite or stay home out of apathy. It will take entirely too long to undo a Democratic majority. It’s not worth it for payback or any other reason.
Lack of Will: We’ve got a good economy, decent employment, and a National Security apparatus second to none. Let’s get the message out. We don’t want to step backwards on any of this. If Republicans lose the House then Democrats will control the committees and a lot of needless and unproductive investigations and hearings will result in two years of another do-nothing Congress. If you don’t want Congress to do anything, (and trust me, sometimes I think that might be best) then vote Democratic or stay home. If you want more progress in the areas of the economy and National Security then don’t stay home.
Let’s get past the Foley thing, please. There’s a lot to do.