Posted by
flagwaver on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 6:03:27 AM
Let me be one of the first to say it: I was wrong. It's not easy to say and it definitely pains me to have to say it, but here goes...Speaker Pelosi. The nightmare has become a reality.
In the next few days we will begin to hear the GOP spin on why the election was lost, about how we frittered away the House and quite possibly the Senate, as well as several governorships. But before all the spinning starts, let me tell you what I think happened.
Here on my blog I have a post titled Attitude Adjustment" that points out the defeatist attitudes that the GOP constantly drags around and makes known to all the world. This election is the manifestation of that attitude and all of the negative feelings that the GOP carries around.
The GOP lost because they were too invested in a defeatist attitude, and that attitude most likely bled over to the voters. We have had several spirited discussion on Townhall threads and at different blog sites about whether or not the GOP deserved to win, what a loss would truly mean, and what we could look forward to if the Democrat Party should win control of the House. I bring this up not to rehash the arguments, because we will soon see which ones carry the most weight. Rather, I am trying to make the point that while we were engaged in debate, many 'casual' voters never took the time to study the candidates and issues and based their decisions on media reports and the like. And the 'casual' GOP voter got plenty of negativity, not just from the media but from prominent conservatives and Republicans as well.
The GOP most likely lost out on their 'casual' voters because of their own actions. Had I been less informed I probably would have run screaming from the GOP in disgust myself! Here is a Party whose candidates ran away from the President on every issue, that constantly predicted defeat...DEFEAT!!...for itself, and instead of giving the voters any reasons to vote for the GOP concentrated on why not to vote for the Democrats. Hell, I was even guilty of it myself!
Now we are in the same position that we have been in for most of my life; stuck with a Democratically controlled House, and possibly a Dem dominated Senate as well. But we have no one to blame but ourselves. We saw the national Party abandon candidates at the first sign of trouble in the polls...think Dewine and Santorum, and we witnessed the Party concede control of the House to the Democrats before the elections even started. That is what we, the voters, saw and this is the end result. The GOP was too eager to predict defeat, to rationalize it, and now we must accept it.
Things are changing, and no matter what Speaker-in-Waiting Pelosi says we can look forward to our taxes going up, the borders being opened, and for the investigations into the Bush Administration to begin. We have just put ourselves back into the political wilderness for God knows how long; but at least it is a position that is familiar to the GOP members. Most of them have served in the minority and they all acted like a minority for the last 12 years, so they won't have to make a big adjustment back to their subservient roles.
Maybe one day the GOP will start to act like winners and be able to inspire confidence in their supporters. Maybe this will be the wake up call needed for the Party to refocus, grow a set of cajones, and learn to stick to its principles.
Sadly though, the GOP probably won't do this at all. After all, they are too accustomed to being the Republi-Cant's.