Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

NOVEMBER 4,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

COULD THIS BE CORRUPTION?  NAH! – OVERNIGHT:  How to buy influence and stay in power.  From Americans for Tax Reform:  The reconciliation bill working its way through the U.S. House calls on the American taxpayer to subsidize Democrats' media allies. The bill provides a special tax cut for the media under the guise of helping "local journalists" but eligible media companies will receive the funds for up to 1,500 reporters per company.  This provision would provide a refundable payroll tax credit equal to 50 percent of wages up to $12,500 per quarter per employee for the first four calendar quarters and a 30 percent credit for each calendar quarter thereafter.  On page 1,957 of the 2000+page bill, section 138516 would create a tax credit for news organizations, including newspapers and broadcasters such as radio and television.  The Poynter Institute today bragged that the tax handout would benefit "broadcasters, public and commercial" in addition to newspapers.  It appears that both NPR and PBS will be eligible to receive this special tax handout. The bill specifically mentions that the credit is not to be applied to “the Government of the United States, the government of any State or political subdivision thereof, or any agency or instrumentality of any of the foregoing”; however there is an exception for public broadcasting entities as defined in the Communication Act of 1934.   Incredible.  This is outright buying of favorable press coverage.  Will the GOP please get on this and expose it.  Make it big.  This is real third-world corruption.

November 4, 2021       Permalink

DEMS IN A PANIC AS THEY LEARN IT'S NOT ENOUGH TO HATE TRUMP – OVERNIGHT:  No one needs Donald Trump the way the Democrats, and their fans in the press, need Trump.  Being anti-Trump is the secular equivalent of battling the Devil.  Without Trump, what would the Democratic Party and CNN do?  Would they go back to laughing at Ronald Reagan?  From Daily Beast: 

A week before the Virginia governor’s race, President Joe Biden came to Arlington to rally for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe. He dutifully ticked through McAuliffe’s record, mentioned McAuliffe’s campaign promises, and then did what he really came to do: talk about Donald Trump.
“Just remember this,” Biden told the crowd. “I ran against Donald Trump. And Terry is running against an acolyte of Donald Trump.”

Biden spoke at length about GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin’s veiled embrace of the ex-president. And he reminded everyone of Trump’s greatest hits, from fomenting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to his tendency to speak ill of deceased critics like John McCain and Colin Powell.

By the time Biden closed—saying extremism could come from a rage-driven mob or “a smile and a fleece vest,” a clear reference to Youngkin’s personal campaign uniform—the president had mentioned Trump as many times as he had mentioned McAuliffe.

The moment reflected a culmination of a clear strategy for Democrats in Virginia: rev up a burnt out electorate in a state Biden had just won by 10 points by connecting a fresh face to Trump.

But on Election Day, the guy that Democrats dubbed “Trumpkin” bested McAuliffe by more than two points to become the first Republican elected Virginia governor in 12 years.

The finger-pointing flowed freely and instantly among Democrats. But many fished out of the rubble a quick lesson as they wobble into the 2022 midterm elections: think twice about making everything about Trump, even where he is unpopular, and focus on making Democrats more popular.

“As long as Donald Trump is a former president, I think Democrats have a responsibility to look more to the future,” said Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who flipped a suburban Minneapolis district in 2018.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), who represents a solidly Democratic area of northern Virginia, said his takeaway from Tuesday’s results was that Trump talk “is not enough.”

“I wouldn’t say don’t do it,” Connolly told The Daily Beast. “But if you’re counting on that to be 100 percent effective and dispositive, then last night tells you otherwise.”

In the aftermath of the “off-year” elections—and a year out from the 2022 midterms—Democrats seem to agree that the anti-Trump playbook that propelled them to control of Congress and the White House may no longer work. Certainly, Youngkin had little trouble dodging that familiar Democratic messaging.

The former venture capital CEO avoided alienating the ex-president but also avoided him in general, making Democratic attempts to paint him and Trump as one and the same seem like a reach.

Democrats largely relied on one quote from early in the campaign, in which Youngkin vaguely praised Trump for inspiring him to run as a first-time candidate, as the main connective tissue. And at one point, Virginia Democrats paid for a mailer reminding voters that Youngkin was endorsed by Trump—which may have ended up doing some of Youngkin’s work with the GOP base for him.

Ultimately, Democrats did vote in large numbers, with liberal strongholds posting higher turnout totals for McAuliffe’s defeat than they did for Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s win in 2017. But deep-red pockets of the state turned out for Youngkin in historic numbers, and McAuliffe lost ground with independent voters in the suburban areas that turned against Trump in 2018 and 2020.

COMMENT:  Now the question is, what happens if Trump runs again?  Would the Trump issue be reborn?  Would Trump be a gift to the Democratic Party?  I don't think we really know.  Americans might wind up actually missing Trump.  They may not miss his personality, but they could easily miss his accomplishments and the kind of economy he built.   Compared to Joe Biden, Trump is an organizational genius.  Will Americans be prepared to overlook his considerable flaws? 

Just remember that Ronald Reagan was laughed at by the "sophisticates."  People thought he would start World War III.  Earlier, Abraham Lincoln was called a "baboon" by his first commanding general.  Franklin Roosevelt was labeled "featherduster" for his apparent lack of intellect.  Dwight Eisenhower was called a simpleton.  Reputation at a given moment is hard to predict.   

November 4, 2021      Permalink  

NOVEMBER 3,  2021

THE KEY POINTS – OVERNIGHT:   Readers may have noticed that we did very little blogging in the last few days.  I saw no value in simply rehashing what you were getting from media.  The smoke has still not cleared, but I pass on some observations on what just happened in the off-year elections, things that might be overlooked:

1.  The most important fact to come out of Tuesday's vote is that, according to Fox, Glenn Youngkin won a majority of the Hispanic vote in Virginia.  He didn't simply improve on the performance of past Republican candidates, but a majority.  If true, and numbers will have to be analyzed, this is a major event in American politics.  The Hispanic vote has been one of the foundations of the Democratic coalition.  If it is faltering in its support for Democratic candidates, it could leave a huge torpedo hole in the hull of the Democratic ship. 

Maybe we shouldn't be too surprised.  A Hispanic friend tells me that there's a young generation rising within the community that doesn't want to wear Che Guevara T-shirts.  It wants to wear Brooks Brothers suits.  It is classic generational change.  The second generation aspires to be fully American.

2.  Unfinished Constitutional business.  Winsome Sears was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia Tuesday. Anyone who saw her accept her victory knows that she will be a star.  A woman of color, born in Jamaica, she has a rare presence, and an even more rare public patriotism.  And yet, her political future is limited because she isn't a native-born American, a fact that will keep her off a national ticket.  We've talked about changing this Constitutional requirement for the presidency, but we never do it.  It's time we did.  Winsome Sears should have the right to aim for the top.

3.  Fight every fight.  A lesson the Republican Party has yet to learn.  A moderate Democrat was elected mayor of New York City Tuesday, but the city was ripe for a Republican mayor in the mold of Rudy Giuliani, someone to clean up the place.  But the New York GOP couldn't be bothered – there's so much golf to be played – and no strong candidate came forward.  Missed opportunity.  Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, took a shot at running for governor of Virginia, a state where Joe Biden had beaten Donald Trump by ten points in 2020.  Youngkin is now governor-elect.  If Republicans aren't on the field, they'll never win.  They get another shot next year, when New York State elects a new governor.  The time to find a great candidate is now. New York is ready.

4.  A possible vocabulary change.  The word "racist" and the phrase "white supremacy" took a beating on Tuesday.  Smarter Democrats will realize that these words must quickly disappear from political campaigns.  They have become meaningless and are now being ignored.  The people who elected Winsome Sears, a black woman, were called racist. 

"White supremacy" was really a term that applied to the racial attitudes of the Old South.  That and "racist" have been part of a new McCarthyism that has cheapened political debate and frozen conversations.  Just as Joe McCarthy had to be brought down by fellow conservatives, the people who have debased racial language must be brought down by their fellow leftists.  I don't think the fringe leftists will budge, but I do think there is hope that traditional liberals will find their way back to sanity.

5.  The birth of a movement.  It will be absolutely fascinating to watch what now happens to the parents' movement across America.  The moment when parents of Loudoun County, Virginia, led by women, realized they were required to act, will become part of American history.  It had to happen.  Parents listened to their children tell of what went on in schools, and understood what they had to do.  The schools belong to the people.  The movement that started in Virginia, and was instrumental in electing Glenn Youngkin as governor, should thrive.  It is multiracial.  It is very American.

6.  The use of a phrase, the death of a campaign.  Rarely do we get a phrase that can end a political campaign.  The moment Terry McAuliffe said in a Virginia debate that parents shouldn't tell teachers what to teach was the moment his campaign was over.  He had committed the unforgivable sin.  He attacked the American parent, especially the American mother.  His words will be remembered. 

November 3,  2021     Permalink