A solid majority of Americans tell pollsters they think the country is headed in the wrong direction. But as the congressional campaigns got underway in earnest this September, it seemed all too likely that after November 2 the House of Representatives will continue down that same wrong path—with a Republican majority under the strong conservative discipline of Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.)… return to article
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Reader Comments (9)Page 1 of 1 pagesThe fact that so many are surprised by the probability that Bush may beat Kerry does not surprise me.
Years ago, I had lost my faith not so much in the Democratic Party but in the non-voting American public. I have watched for years as our country devolved into what many are only now decrying as Bush’s fault. It is not his; it is ours. We let it happen.
Truth is, we have been sleeping and moping ever since Reagan beat Carter, and most of us have been too chicken to speak up. Howard Dean, God bless him, lit a fire under all of us.
Remember the Lynyrd Skynrd song, “Sweet Home Alabama”? In one line, the group decries the words of Neil Young in his song “Southern Man”. They sing, “Watergate does not bother me; does your conscience bother you?”
Those were words which typified what happened to many of my baby boom generation during the 1970s. It was so much easier to simply let go than remain 60s-strident. What happened? The country devolved into a multitude of AM radio little men spouting the same basic philosophy sung by Lynryd Skynryd. And now they rule the country. But did we get what we deserved? Let’s do a reality check.
Most of us stopped voting, and most stopped thinking about how seriously bad politicians can affect our little world. After all, we got rid of Nixon.
So in our contemporary world, George W. Bush is not exactly the worst drink, but rather a lethal combination; he’s the worst and most powerful drink we have ever taken. He would have made a great Baseball Commissioner. I could have enjoyed him in that job.
My point is: Americans are basically a very naive lot about the world, even our own. We are so myopic we need to be cattle prodded to speak out.
I hope we are ready to rejoin it in January, but I am not optimistic. Too many are still lost.
By the way, I have voted in almost all local and national elections since 1966. Have you, dear reader? I’ll bet you don’t plan on standing on the sidelines for this one.
Posted by George Heiner on Sep 25, 2004 at 12:47 PM You wrote that first-term GOP Rep. Rick Renzi is “not an effective campaigner”... how about actually doing the research and learning that not only has Renzi outraised his Democratic oppoenent by more than $700K, he is also up 11% in a recent independent poll conducted by Northern Arizona University… I suggest either actually calling the campaign and asking for this information or stop thinking of yourself as an informed “political pundit” with intelligent opinions on House races far from Illinois.
Posted by Arizona Resident on Sep 25, 2004 at 2:15 PM George Heiner, I agree with you entirely: Bush is not to blame, the electorate are. The Democratic Party is too in not having the strength of their convictions. You would think that after the inaapropriately named Gore acted as viciously as a dead sheep last time around that Kerry would have seen the value in strong leadership.
I am actually looking forward to another Bush term. Firstly, he will have to clean up his own mess in Iraq rather than leave it to someone else and, secondly, with any luck he will introduce more excesses that finally the dumb-ass Republican voters might see Bush et. al. for what they really are.
It will be a rough ride but may well result in such an overwhelming GOP defeat in 2008 that they are obliterated, just like the Conservatives have been in Canada and the U.K. where the electorate finally got fed up with being lied to and ripped off.
Posted by Missy Nubbins on Sep 26, 2004 at 7:40 PM Missy,
The difficulty is that, while conservatives in the UK and Canada are largely limited wreaking havoc in their own countries, except when operating in tandem with US policy, the US government provides a far wider field of play. George Bush and his cronies may well blow themselves up in the next four years. I’d rather not contemplate who or what else they will blow-up in the process.
Posted by W.B. Reeves on Sep 27, 2004 at 2:42 AM A couple of notes.
1. I believe that Sam (Samara Barend) whom we know well and whose candicacy we are supporting, has an excellent chance in District 29, if she can get enough funding. We are not from 29, but I drove down for her primary party on September 14, after work. It was full of hundreds of people, and I heard people signing up to volunteer and saying that they were Republicans but were sick of both of their candidates (the Republican primary was bruising) and wanted to elect Sam. I have great hopes there.
2. I am not impressed by Rick Renzi, though he might win on money outright—his fund raising has been almost entirely outside his state (over 80%) and is 59% pac funding, with a significant amount of that coming from Drug companies and other similar pacs—he needs to be aggressively reproached for selling his votes to narrow interests among the corporates.
Of course, we can counter the influence of the money. Let each In These Times subscriber give $50.00—not totally unreasonable—and all of a sudden you have rough funding parity—and that’s just the subscription base of a fairly small leftist journal. I tell you what, Jonathan and I will dig up another $50.00 (we planned ahead and already have given in kind and cash close to 10,000 this year). Why not be the first to join us Mr. Arizona resident?—unless of course you are actually a Republican—the rest of you too—let’s see if WE can influence this particular House race by increasing Mr. Babbit’s funding. I’ll bet we can, if we try doing something, rather than just grousing and bitching.
George Heiner is right of course, it is our own fault. Too many of us allow ourselves to be misled by the media, which, make no mistake, is owned by the Right and has been for decades. Too many of us believe the pap and crap that drips out of the mouths of Republican spinmeisters too. We don’t have to—we just do. And then there are the liberals and Leftists who don’t vote for some of our own candidates because we become convinced they aren’t “pure” enough. Bull—go out and vote Democratic people, put your money where you mouths are and campaign. You’ll be amazed at the results.
Regards,
Reyn
Posted by Reynolds Jones on Sep 27, 2004 at 3:00 PM Pundits be damned!
Here in the 24th district, California Democrats are working hard to unseat Republican Elton Gallegly.
He’s enjoyed 18 years of gerrymandered security, but registration and turnout will make the difference this time. Bush has created a lot of angry Democrats here, and we have already gained the lead in new registrations this year.
Because the state is expected to go for Kerry, many local Dems, notably Howard Dean’s supporters, are working hard to elect Brett Wagner to Congress.
If you don’t have a house race in your district this year… send money to my district!!!
www.brettwagner2004.comJohn Johnson
Posted by John Johnson on Sep 27, 2004 at 3:39 PM What a *ridiculous* election system we have. Even if the Dems get more votes than the Republicans in House races, the GOP will almost certainly be awarded a majority of House seats. There are at least two ways to improve this problem. The short-term improvement is to copy the Texas GOP. When Democrats run state legislatures, like in Illinois, Democrats should redraw the congressional map to create swing seats. Melissa Bean has a very tough race against an old, out-of-touch GOP incumbent, because the district is gerrymandered to protect the incumbent. Illinois Dems can fix that, and they should. The long-term solution is to use proportional representation in larger, multi-seat districts. There’s something wrong when the People’s House is the institution least susceptible to changes due to public opinion.
Posted by Dan Johnson-Weinberger on Oct 2, 2004 at 12:59 AM Things could conceivably turn around in some Congressional races if Kerry wins with coattails. The first few post-debate polls show Kerry retaking Ohio, Iowa and Pennsylvania and going from a 70-electoral vote deficit on Oct. 5 to a six-vote lead on Oct. 6. (For details, go to http://frogblog.journalspace.com/). There is good reason to believe that upcoming polls will show a Kerry surge in many battleground states and could therefore impact the 30 closest Congressional races. At the moment, Dems are set to pick up Senatorial seats in Illiinois (by a landslide), Colorado, Oklahoma and Alaska, and they are leading in four of their six vulnerable races. Dems do trail by 16% in South Carolina and narrowly in Florida—but that would still result in a capture of the Senate if people vote the way they are polling today.
Dems have been furiously registering new voters (by 10 times the G.O.P. margin in Ohio and 20x the G.O.P. rate in Florida). There is also reason to believe pollsters have been undercounting young voters, who tend to favor Kerry by 2-1. Finally, the head-to-head comparison of lying Cheney and weasel-looking Bush with earnest/honest-looking and -sounding Kerry and Edwards could be profound—with undecideds, independents and Republicans who have begun to dislike the smell that comes out of this White House.
Posted by Alan Waldman on Oct 6, 2004 at 2:40 PM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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