I need to rant a little bit today, so forgive me. . .hey, wait, that's what this blog is for. Anyway, let's get this over with.
Massachusetts Senatorial Special Election: So today in Massachusetts, the voters are voting on Ted Kennedy's replacement (Massachusetts law allows the Governor to appoint an interim Senator until a Special Election can be held). And lo and behold, the Democrat, Martha Coakley (the current Attorney General) might just lose to Republican State Senator Scott Brown.
Now this is big news for two reasons: first, Massachusetts is a liberal state; and second, attorneys general are elected statewide, and state senators are not. In other words, Coakley was a known commodity to Massachusetts voters, whereas Brown was only known to a small group of them. Now, while I'm sure that Bogart has some other ideas, let me state why this is happening from my perspective:
1) Coakley is a bad candidate - Even though she was the AG, from what I can tell, Coakley has been a terrible candidate. She hasn't worked for it since the primary. Voters can tell when they're being ignored and that's dumb. A good campaign is like a good college football team - there's no such thing as overkill. Since Sunday, Brown has made 66 campaign stops, and Coakley 19. Are you kidding me?
2) National Dems are repeating past mistakes: Coakley is the classic "Law and Order" Democrat - the current AG and a former DA, she's more conservative than Kennedy was, and hasn't differentiated herself from Brown. But, you see, that's why she won the primary - the voters and the National Dems backed her because they thought she was going to win because she was a more conservative Democrat. And quite frankly, that's insane. Some strategic voting is okay, but as Truman used to say - when given the choice between a Republican and a Democrat who acts like a Republican, the voters will choose the real thing.
Moreover, the Dems are forgetting that in a special election, turnout is key. And the only way to turn out Democrats is to excite the base. Moderates are great, but they don't excite anyone. With the insanity of the health care reform bill, Coakley would be in a stronger place if she went Alan Grayson/Howard Dean.
Anyway, here's my point - the Democratic Party needs to understand that its base is the same size, if not larger, than the GOP base. Expanding to the independents is good, but having the base with you is equally important. The most successful Democrats are always presumed to be more liberal than they actually are. So, stop being afraid to be liberal.
The Chargers choke again -
As a Chargers fan, last Sunday's game was painful. Without question, the Chargers choked - and choked big time. Ten penalties, three missed field goals, a dumb interception, the Chargers just didn't play up to their ability. I blame Norv Turner - but at the same time, the offensive line and the defensive line are not what they should have been. The D-line is excusable from a coaching standpoint (although A.J. Smith better do something to upgrade the D-line), but the offensive line play has been atrocious for years. Yes, LT isn't the player he used to be, but he hasn't had any holes to go through.
Not a lot to say here except:
ReplyDelete1. The only reason the appointment happened was because the Dems changed the law to allow it. Not long ago, the Republican Romney was governor and the Dems said it was not right to allow the governor to appoint a replacement. So, they changed the law, fearing that Ted "Vehicular Manslaughter" Kennedy would pass away when a Republican was in power. Now, Democrat Patrick is governor and it was no longer politically expedient to withhold that power...the law was changed again. Funny how that worked. It was bad for the governor to have that power when it was a republican and a great idea when it was a democrat. That is change we all can believe in…right?
2. The main take-away for Dems should be that the President is personally popular, his policy and politics are not. He has no coattails to ride because nobody else IS HIM. He alone has the gravitas to carry an election. His governing style, political bent and policy are about as popular as George Bush.
3. Mass has 11% of the populace registered as Republicans. That is not a big base to turn out. Independents, who make up around 50% of Mass, are scared of the "Hurry up and pass massive spending/tax bills" path our Congress/President/Senate are taking. They voted pretty strongly against that.
4. I don't want to talk about the Chargers. I work very hard to be slow to anger. I will simply say that Pitchers and Catchers report in 3 weeks and that makes me happy!
In response:
ReplyDelete1. You're pretty much right about how the law regarding appointments to the Senate was fleshed out. Regardless, its a pretty good law right now. Massachusetts gets a continuity of representation, but the voters get to pick the replacement.
2. You're right and wrong about Obama and the Democrats. He is personally popular, and the policies he ran on are popular. The problem is that those aren't the policies coming out of Washington. Instead, the Democrats are continuing a lot of the crappy economic policies that got us into this mess. Instead of leading, he's letting the stuffed shirts of D.C. run things. So to my fellow Democrats, I say, sack the fuck up.
3. The problem with the stimulus is that after the big spending, NOBODY HAS ANY JOBS! So, of course the Independents are pissed. And Congress is pissing whatever goodwill they have away.
4. Agreed.
thought you might find this interesting...
ReplyDeleteLiberal Democrats might attempt to spin the shocking victory of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts by claiming that the loss was a result of a poor campaign by Martha Coakley. Would that it were so. This was a defeat not of the messenger, but of the message—and the sooner progressive Democrats face up to that fact, the better.
It's the substance, stupid!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703837004575013221708478134.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read
No, its because the Democrats are a bunch of pussies who are afraid to make anyone mad. Besides, Coakley was a moderate, not a liberal.
ReplyDelete