Yesterday, one year after the election of Barack Obama, Republicans won the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey. Many on the right view this is a repudiation of President Obama and his policies, and they may very well be correct.
But Tuesday's elections were also a repudiation of the "Glenn Beck, birther, Sarah Palin, tea bagger, Rush Limbaugh, Joe The Unlicensed Plumber," wing of the GOP.
Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie, the newly elected governors of Virginia and New Jersey respectively, are mainstream conservatives who avoided Sarah Palin like the plague. Neither candidate took Mrs. Palin up on her offer to stump for them, presumably deciding that the risk was greater than the reward.
The one candidate who wholeheartedly embraced Palin, Glenn Beck, et al, was Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate for Congress (NY23). A few days ago Hoffman, in an interview with Glenn Beck, told him that he would look to Beck for advice and considered him to be a mentor.
Hoffman lost.
The 23rd district of New York will be represented by Democrat Bill Owens. This is the first time that the GOP has not represented this district since the Civil War. (Yes, the Abe Lincoln Civil War, not the annual Oregon-Oregon State football game).
But the GOP is calling this a victory too. They are thrilled that they knocked a moderate Republican, Dede Scozzafava, out of the race. Scozzafava has a solid conservative voting record except on the issues of gay marriage and abortion.
In the "old days" you claimed victory when you actually won. The district that was represented by a Republican (for 130 years) is now represented by a Democrat. Nancy Pelosi has a new member. John Boehner lost one. Strange victory indeed.
The GOP did well, especially upending Jon Corzine of New Jersey, but it was the old fashioned, mainstream GOP that won. You know, the GOP that moderates and liberals can actually stomach.
Mainstream conservatism won big on Tuesday in New Jersey and Virginia. This may be a harbinger of things to come. Time will tell.
Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and the "tea baggers" lost big on Tuesday. This also may be a harbinger of things to come. Time will tell.
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Karin Greenberg
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Comments
I'm more than sated that Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, etc didn't win this one and the people of that community decided to vote for someone who actually cares about its inhabitants.
Frank, they are claiming victory in NY23.
rw, Now might be the time for cooperation between the parties, but do you see that happening?
stellaa, the spin is on.
Thanks all.
i would like to see Obama step up the stimulus release or readjust it to get some of these jobs going. We can't wait much longer.
I think there is another take on yesterday's races.
First, it is no big shake that the Governors races in both states went opposite the party in the White House. That is a long standing tradition. Second, to Corzine. I think it could be looked at as a repudiation of Wall Street. Both Corzine and Bloomburg have spent of their OWN MONEY in the last 2 election cycles $400million. Yet Corzine lost and Bloomburg, despite his supposed popularity and his opponent spending, oh, something on the order of the cost of a Big Mac, barely won. I think voters were repudiating Wall Street more than endorsing Republicans.
In Virginia, Deeds ran by all accounts a very bad race. McDonnell, who has all his career pushed a very conservative agenda, won by moving to the middle and away from his true stripe. This should scare, not bolster the R-Party.
Factor McDonnell in with the NY 23rd and what do you get? A broken R-Party that cannot compete realistically within the confines of its current idealogic control, that of the neo-cons (an interesting term that seems to have fallen out of favor these days).
So if I'm a D, I am a little concerned about the losses and what they may mean for the 2010 census and redistricting. But if I'm an R, I see no reason to celebrate what are essentially lukewarm repudiations of the status quo.
You're right though, if the jobs don't come, and if people don't feel better about their own wallets, John Boehner may become Speaker. Yikes.
It's called spin, not truth.
I also feel badly about Maine not winning the marriage/love vote. tsk tsk on them!
AUWE
What conservatives are happy about is that some unknown candidate from the CP defeated what would have been a bad Republican congresswoman. We don't need another Olympia Snowe that can be used in the name of "bi-partisanship" by the Democrats.
The NJ win is big for us. VA is back to being a red state. Obama pushed hard for NJ. I heard the robo-calls he did in NJ. Very presidential. He lost. And he'll lose again.
Poorsinner101, yes I remember saying that I was sick of politics, and I still am, but it's still a major part of our lives, so if by choosing to comment on it makes me a liar, so be it.
The point of this piece is that the Republican Party, in spite of what Limbaugh says, does better when they don't act like extremists. The same is true for the Dems, or we would have seen President Kucinich by now.
Thanks all for your reads and comments.
But, according to the biggest paper in the district, based out of Watertown, Hoffman spectacularly blew an interview, one in which he chose to ignore the local issues and instead spew invective about his views on his far-right conservative values. Big mistake.
Hmm...no wonder Hoffman lost.
(Great writing!)
~rated