What the mid-terms mean

[Ockham]

Some very good points made by Conservatives this weekend - unfortunately it was done on ABC with Amanpour so no one saw it. Dick Armey and George Will with a little help from Cokie Roberts (which was a little surprising) set the record straight on a few issues.

First - what kind of Government are the U.S. people requiring this year in the mid-terms?

Second - Is this election a referendum on Democrats policies?


The second issue seems obvious to most but there are some hard line Democrats who want to continue the rhetoric Obama continues on the campaign trail in an attempt to minimize the bleeding tomorrow.


Here are two very good clips (and I've included the transcript for those who don't have video capability)

Clip #1:

Eyeblast.tv

AMANPOUR: George, Senator Cornyn pretty much told us that they didn't expect to win the Senate. Made some news here.

GEORGE WILL: Doesn't matter, though, because if Mitch McConnell has 48 senators, he will always have 41 senators for whatever he wants to have 41 for.

Let me just say this. The Republican Party is being told to be the party of no. No more stimulus spending. No cap-and-trade. No card check. None of this other stuff. Gridlock is not an American problem. It's an American achievement. The framers of our Constitution didn't want an efficient government; they wanted a safe government. To which end they filled it with slowing and blocking mechanisms. Three branches of government, two branches of the legislative branch, veto, veto override, supermajority, judicial review.

(CROSSTALK) ROBERTS: And we added to that the partisan rate (ph) so that we not only have institutional gridlock, we have partisan gridlock, which the voters overwhelmingly voted for.

WILL: What I'm saying, Cokie, is that when we have gridlock, the system is working.

ROBERTS: No, I understand, I understand that.

Clip #2

Eyeblast.tv

AMANPOUR: Well, let me ask Dick Armey, though, because obviously some of the candidates that you're supporting are challenging the establishment. That's the whole point. And former Republican Leader Trent Lott has said that once the election is over, we have to co-opt the Tea Party. Is that going to happen?

ARMEY: Well, I think the paradigm shift that you see, for too long the American people have said we're tired of having Washington squabbling with one another and telling us what we're going to get. We have decided to assert our citizenry, be involved, and tell Washington what we require of them and what we must have or they will lose their jobs. This is a great day where America is returning to its foundation root of the citizenry telling the government what we will tolerate from you, what we expect from you and what we require from you. It is an enormous return to the foundation roots of this great country.

HUFFINGTON: Dick Armey is making the mistake that a lot of people are going to make on Tuesday night, which is over-interpreting the results. This victory by Republicans, which I fully expect -- I fully expect them to take over the House -- does not mean that the nation is rejecting Democrats and affirming Republicans. It means that they are rejecting the way our institutions are working, that they have deep mistrust of all establishment, that basically our system has not worked for them.

COKIE ROBERTS: We hear this every time we have a president of one party and a Congress of the same party. The people in that party say, oh, this isn't a rejection in the midterm election. And it is, of course, a rejection.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: A midterm election is a referendum on the president.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: That's what it is.

HUFFINGTON: -- positive view of Republicans is to (inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

AMANPOUR: How did the Democrats --

ROBERTS: It is a disaffirmation of Barack Obama.

HUFFINGTON: Absolutely, I said that. But this is not an affirmation of Republicans or a smaller government or of cutting spending, all this stuff that Dick Armey wants you to believe it is. It is not.

ROBERTS: Well, certainly the polls say people want smaller government and cutting spending.

As usual Huffington is towing the party line - the problem is she's just so out of touch with reality, it's almost comical, and she get's destroyed where even Cokie won't have any of her nonsense and let it stand.

 

[Grim17]

As usual Huffington is towing the party line - the problem is she's just so out of touch with reality, it's almost comical, and she get's destroyed where even Cokie won't have any of her nonsense and let it stand.

Huffington has to... Her website has become the Obama administrations official online news source.

As for the rest of your post, I saw these videos yesterday, and it was very refreshing to hear Roberts speak honestly, rather than spewing the democratic talking points.

 

[Ockham]

Huffington has to... Her website has become the Obama administrations official online news source.

As for the rest of your post, I saw these videos yesterday, and it was very refreshing to hear Roberts speak honestly, rather than spewing the democratic talking points.

Agreed - I was thinking the same thing about Roberts. She usually throws in with the Liberals but there's a shred of decency still there and just listening to Huffington prattle on with the standard talking points we've been hearning for months now just wasn't going to fly.

 

[Mach]

I think it's all very exciting. Although Republicans are more of a "host organism", let's be honest. Neither republicans nor democrats in recent years have done anything to reduce government bloat or repair are fiscal woes. Sure republicans talk about it, but they never do it...putting them in both on the wrong side, and ethically backwards to boot.

But now we've got this groundswell of people wanting to restore fiscal sanity on the backdrop of a "failed" economy and it's got a lot of momentum. And amusingly many Republican GOPers fought against this shift...and are losing(?). I don't think this movement has anything to do with what Obama does or did. It's a referendum instead on the government's constant tinkering with the economy, creating then bursting bubbles, all on top of doing this with massive debt, that people are now against, because right now they are sitting in a crappy economy while Obama does what all recent presidents have done...tries to find ways to spend more money. (well, that is about Obama isn't it?)

And the U.K. is already talking huge gov. cuts...the real deal...and France. Wow, Europe beat the Republicans to the race to shrink government. You guys better toast the brits for that