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The Spectacle Blog
The latest Gallup Poll is out and it’s bad news for the Democrats. People favor the GOP for Congress 49% to 43%, and Republicans are a lot more enthusiastic about voting.
Michael Barone explains what this means:
There’s no way to sping this except as bad news for Democrats. Yes, Democratic candidates may be able to beat Republican challengers here and there by attacking them as wackos. But Democrats are in trouble, as I argued in my Sunday Examiner column, on both competence and ideology-a pretty lethal combination.
It’s still a long-time to November, but public attitudes on spending and health appear to be moving ever more against the Democrats. So the ensuing months might not help the Prez and his buddies on Capitol Hill.
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.2.10 @ 8:36AM
Doug,
From your keyboard to God's ears.
I'm not sure that the enormous tsunami of debt combined with the regulatory power-grabs has soaked in on a lot of people yet.
Like before the onslaught of a tsunami, the water is right now retreating quietly from the beach and lulling many people it seems.
We read even here in comments at Am Spec the words of people who are either paid plants, or they have their heads buried in the beach sand so deeply, believing that somehow they are insulated and/or protected.
Sometimes, reading their stuff, makes me consider following Lot, leaving Soddom and Gomorah.
A just God allowed to Lot, that if he could find merely ten good men in the city, that God would relent and preserve the city.
Here, we must have 51% good men and women vote wisely through the primaries and November to survive as a free country in my opinion.
We can't stop the tidal wave even now, but we must find higher ground.
Tim| 6.2.10 @ 8:44AM
Good morning Ken. I'll hit you with a bit of poetry from Chesterton which captures the spirit of our times:
You and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.
"I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher."
"Night shall be thrice night over you,
And heaven an iron cope.
Do you have joy without a cause,
Yea, faith without a hope?"
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T.....hite_Horse
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.2.10 @ 10:09AM
Tim,
Thank you. (smile)
I do have joy, in bundles, and my hope is in Jesus Christ...infinite.
I really don't have "faith", at least in the way most people define it.
Rather, (if I may wax poetic for just a moment), some years ago, I blinked, opened my eyes, and saw "rock-hard reality" for the very first time.
I have been overjoyed ever since.
I often smile when talking to people who can only see a rock or steel, (solid real stuff), when I remind them that a rock or the steel...isn't "solid real stuff" at all...but rather gazillions of tiny fragile bubbles called atoms, swirling in each of their unique ways.
...Sometimes, those folks blink...and see "reality"; the "energy" that spun those bubbles, and keeps all those little bubbles spinning .
We Christians and many Jews recognize that "energy". We call it/Him God.
I just hate to see our country disolve because the "energy" of its creation is gone.
Curly Smith| 6.2.10 @ 9:06AM
If the general public paid any attention to the antics in the world's largest penal colony, Washington DC, then the poll would be very bad news for the Democrats. But to the average uninformed voter it's pretty much a push.
The GOP isn't going to get very far arguing "competence"... and what would they say, "we're better able to implement the Democrats' agenda than they are"? The key is ideology but the GOP has been running against and away from Conservatism for +10 years and they've been silent on what they'd do differently for the past 18 months. The GOP won the House in 1994 because they nationalized the races. Today they'd say "a vote for Joe Smith is a vote for Nancy Pelosi, a vote for Jane Smith is a vote for Harry Reid". But that's only effective if you have an offsetting - and better - national message. The GOP has some very good Conservative candidates but the Democrats have some candidates who sound like very good Conservatives, why should the average uninformed voter say anything but "a pox on both your houses"?
Admittedly, most voters don't start paying attention until after the Labor Day weekend. Maybe the GOP is just keeping its powder dry. Maybe they have an overarching conservative, get back to basics, smaller government plan. Maybe they're got an extensive message campaign in the works. Maybe Michael Steele is just a stalking horse...
Rob Lutz| 6.2.10 @ 9:37AM
During a conversation on the policies of Obama last Saturday on Fox, Ben Stein asked Neil Cavuto to explain how we are less free today than we were 40 years ago. Ben doesn't believe this to be the case. Ben Stein is also in favor of higher taxes on higher earners, but that's a subject for another day (he doesn't agree with supply-side theory). Anyway, this strikes me as a pretty good question. Make no mistake, I disagree with many policies of this administration, but all this talk about the death of liberty and freedom seems a bit over the top. One might respond to Ben's question with the examples of health care reform and cap and trade, etc., but I'm guessing Ben would say that this doesn't really affect one's ability to live as he or she would like. I would ask AmSpec readers to think about Ben's question. Is Ben Stein wrong? Are we any less free?
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.2.10 @ 11:02AM
Rob,
Hi.
Oh heck yes we are less free, but in a mass of tiny encroachments..pin pricks mostly. (I'm 64 years).
Some silly examples:
My five year old home: My "water saver" toilet must be flushed four times to get a clean bowl. My "water saver" shower drizzles instead of spraying efficiently.
I have to wear a seatbelt or get a $200 ticket.
My lawn mower has signs all over it warning me to keep HANDS, FEET, FINGERS, TOES, ELBOWS , AND KIDS, OUT FROM UNDER!
I must insure myself against any idiot that walks across my yard and trips over his own feet.
My business has FOUR TIMES the regulatory paperwork I had 40 years ago....
LiveFreeOrDie| 6.2.10 @ 12:59PM
Don't forget taxes and fees on anything and everything. Being taxed and fleeced ten different ways has an impact on freedom when one can't afford to leave the house.
Rob Lutz| 6.2.10 @ 1:08PM
I see where you're going, and I'd like to pin some of the blame on trial lawyers ...
I still think Ben makes a good point, and it would be interesting to look at tax rates over the last 40 years too.
Jeremiah| 6.2.10 @ 4:10PM
They're trying to take away free speech right now, Rob! Obamacare destroys many of our personal life and death health care choices. How can you even ask that question?
Nick| 6.2.10 @ 4:10PM
Ken,
You are soooooo right!
It is the death of liberty by a thousand cuts.
I'm in the heating and air conditioning business. In the early '90s President G.H.W. Bush's signed the Clean Air Act, which added more to the cost of repairing air conditioners and refrigerators in this country. It also outlawed certain refrigerants.
The federal government also has been mandating more efficient heating and air conditioning equipment, which has added to the cost. But, the materials used are cheaper. Thinner metal, not as well built, and not as repairable.
This is on top of all the state and federal regulations for running a business. And for every one of us who follow the regs and operate legally, there are probably 10 out there who don't.
Think of the good old days, when all you did to start a business was make something and sell it, or provide a service for an agreed upon price. If you hired someone, all you did was agree on what price he would trade his time for your money.
The federal government had no say in what you did, unless you imported, exported, or did business across state lines. Only states and villages could regulate your business, and they usually only did so when it affected the public safety.
Ahhh, those were the days!
Jeremiah| 6.2.10 @ 4:06PM
Screw you, supra--quit lying, bigot.