Horseheads, NY– It’s Friday. I’m about 70 miles from home. I have some work to do on the the truck, once I get back to the shop, some paperwork…(A constant) and then home. Short week next week for me, I’m taking a couple days off. So, I’ll likely start early this week.
- Electoral College 2012 – Ridiculously Early Handicapping: Or so James Joyner calls his post. [1] [1] James, for his part is echoing Steven Green’s post. [2] JAmes seems reluctant to bring it up, but unlike James, I ‘m not convinced it’s too early to start watching these things, frankly, because there are a number of remarkable factors, now that are not likely to change between now election time. Says Green:
Instead, fives rules of thumb:1. President Obama will not win any states he didn’t win in 2008.
2. North Carolina and Indiana are gone for the Democrats. Indiana was a fluke — due to proximity to Illinois, lack of enthusiasm for McCain, and the economic panic. North Carolina was won by a scant 14,000 votes against a demoralized GOP. Both states will go red this time around.
3. Virginia is traditionally GOP-friendly, but has been trending purple. Also, there’s been a huge influx of money and power and more money into the Northern VA ‘burbs around DC. That helps the state’s economy (at the expense of the rest of the nation), and makes Virginia a tough state for the GOP to pick off of Obama’s 2008 column.
4. Obama put together an amazing ground game in the Mountain West last time around, and intends to rally Latino voters to do it again. The region should be all-red, given the state of the economy and Obama’s negatives — but a billion dollars can buy a lot of ground game.
5. There’s a wave of disgust and despair in the industrial Great Lakes and Midwest. I believe this wave hurts both parties, making the region the battleground for 2012.
Who wins? Hell if I know. But I’m certain I’ve picked the right battleground states.
I think he’s right, far as he goes. But as I tell one of James’ readers:
There seems little question that the Democrats are being regarded at best as damaged goods, given the state of the economy, and the degree to which they decided to march to the left.Since the economy is not likely to get any better between now an election day, that makes this next election the GOP’s to lose. What predicting this next election comes down to is whom the Republicans decide to offer. As I’ve said before, should the Republicans offer a real conservative, (and the McCains and Romenys of the world simply do not qualify as such) then the GOP will have a landslide that makes Carter’s defeat at the hands of Reagan look like a close race. Absent that, we’ll have a second Obama term.
And, I’ll add, no America, by the time it ends.
- SHOULD OBAMA RESIGN? That is the question on Roger Simon’s mind [3], yesterday:
A CEO with such a disastrous first three years as our president has had probably would already have been called upon to resign or been pushed out by his company’s board of directors — more than likely for some time.Obama has failed in virtually every direction, foreign and domestic. His policies indeed are almost non-existent. He is completely rudderless, unless you accept the view that he is following the prescription of Cloward-Piven and has set out to destroy American capitalism from within.
If that is so — and I don’t really accept it for a variety of reasons — he has failed even at that, because his reelection becomes less likely with every passing day. A Cloward-Piven strategy could not be successful in only four years. America is far too strong for that. In the case of Obama, his policies are leading to something quite the opposite — an epic disaster for the Democratic Party and (modern) liberalism in 2012.
Look, Roger, you don’t need to destroy the whole tire to create a flat. As UBL decided, all you need to do is poke a hole or two in it.
Make no mistake that’s what he’s about… destroying America.
Look at it this way, Roger…. Since being immaculated as Rush calls it, Obama has done as you say everything wrong. Everything he’s done…. 100%, right down the line…. has been an abject failure.
But that’s only if and I say again only if, we define success as a booming economy and an America that is strong and free, and respects the rights of the individual first.I dare to submit, Roger, that one does not get to that level of consistency without both talent, and intent. It’s time to give up this myth of Obama incompetence. He knows damned good and well what he’s doing… and he’s doing as he intends. It’s time for reality, here. The only logical conclusion to draw is that he and his backers, including George Soros, intend nothing less than a destroyed America.