Unsinkable

Early in the titanic Obama Administration, Americans had acquiesced to acquiring multi-billion dollars in additional debt on assurances from the president himself that the unprecedented amount of spending was for the primary purpose of preventing unemployment from rising above 8%, and that the borrowed money was specifically targeted to "shovel ready" projects and so would "hit the ground running" and instantly "jump-start" the flat-lining economy.

Almost a year and a trillion dollars in new debt later, on the one year anniversary of Obama's election, unemployment has hit--and surpassed--the dreaded 10% marker, a watermark not reached in 26 years.

That followed the news that--as reported on October 22--the polled decline of Obama's popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term in more than 50 years.

Meanwhile, the president's party suffered the stunning losses of the governorship of deep blue New Jersey and the return to red of Virginia's in the first round of elections since Obama's own a year ago.

Abroad, the president has two left feet, always starts off on the wrong one, and puts the other in his mouth whenever he tries to hip-hop across the trip-wired mine field of international relations while American troops are stationed and fighting in two theaters of a war which he, the Commander in Chief, doesn't even consider a "real" war (as troops die on a weekly basis).

What we see is a much-ballyhooed ship, believed by its stockholders to be "unsinkable," that is recklessly steaming across dangerous waters on its maiden voyage and hitting ice-floes and iceburgs in the dark.

Unnoticed by many, however, the hull has already gotten gashed beneath the waterline, popped rivets, and had its integrity compromised. The hold is taking on water now and there is a slight but perceptible listing. The passengers have become uneasy and have started to ask questions and complain. The crew is confused; yet all they hear from the captain and his complement is:

"Everything is under control. It was just a couple of scratches."

Sour Grapes

Obsessed troll stankey scoffed:

"Deeds was a total amateur/dud who ran far to the right of Obama."

Then Obama must also be an amateur for foolishly putting his credibility and clout on the line for him (and also a dud for failing to deliver):



"Creigh understands that Virginia faces tough challenges, and solving them will require more than just lip service and political ads!"

lol

Now THAT'S funny!

Stankey sneered:

"Corzine was a corrupt, hated individual who was voted out on those grounds."

Well someone should have told this guy that:



"Two days away from making sure that New Jersey has the kind of quality leadership that it deserves!"

lol

Fools.

SMACKDOWN

GOP sweep: Big governor victories in Virginia, NJ

Wed Nov 4, 6:33 am ET

WASHINGTON – Independents who swept Barack Obama to a historic 2008 victory broke big for Republicans on Tuesday as the GOP wrested political control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a troubling sign for the president and his party heading into an important midterm election year.

Conservative Republican Bob McDonnell's victory in the Virginia governor's race over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds and moderate Republican Chris Christie's ouster of unpopular New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was a double-barreled triumph for a party looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Maine voters rejected a state law that would allow same-sex couples to wed. If supporters had prevailed, it would have marked the first time that the electorate in any state endorsed gay marriage.

And Democrat Bill Owens captured a GOP-held vacant 23rd Congressional District seat in New York in a race that highlighted fissures in the Republican Party and illustrated hurdles the GOP could face in capitalizing on any voter discontent with Obama and Democrats next fall.

California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, also a Democrat, won a special election to a vacant congressional seat, Ohio voters approved casinos and a slew of cities selected mayors, including New York, which gave Michael Bloomberg a third term.

The outcomes of Virginia and New Jersey were sure to feed discussion about the state of the electorate, the status of the diverse coalition that sent Obama to the White House and the limits of the president's influence — on the party's base of support and on moderate current lawmakers he needs to advance his legislative priorities.

His signature issue of health care reform was dealt a blow hours before polls closed when Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid signaled that Congress may not complete health care legislation this year, missing Obama's deadline and pushing debate into a congressional election year. Democrats in swing-voting states and moderate-to-conservative districts may be less willing to back Obama on issues like health care after Virginia and New Jersey showed there are limits to how much he can protect his rank and file from fallout back home.

The president had personally campaigned for Deeds and Corzine, seeking to ensure that independents and base voters alike turned out even if he wasn't on the ballot — and voters still rejected them. Thus, the losses were blots on Obama's political standing to a certain degree and suggested potential problems ahead as he seeks to achieve his policy goals, protect Democratic majorities in Congress and expand his party's grip on governors' seats next fall.

Interviews with voters leaving polling stations in both states were filled with reasons for Democrats to be concerned and for Republicans to be optimistic, particularly about independents — the crown jewel of elections because they often determine outcomes.

Independents were a critical part Obama's victory in Virginia, New Jersey and across the country. But after more than a year of recession, they fled from Democrats in the two states, where the economy trumped all.

The Associated Press exit polls showed that nearly a third of voters in Virginia described themselves as independents, and nearly as many in New Jersey did. They preferred McDonnell by almost a 2-1 margin over Deeds in Virginia, and Christie over Corzine by a similar margin.

Last year, independents split between Obama and Republican John McCain in both states.

In Virginia, McDonnell won by big margins in rapidly growing, far-flung Washington, D.C., suburbs — places like Loudoun and Prince William counties — that Republicans historically have won but where Obama prevailed last fall by winning over independents and swing voters. Republicans swept all three statewide Virginia offices up for election: governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

"Bob McDonnell's victory gives Republicans tremendous momentum heading into 2010," declared Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association. "His focus on ideas and pocketbook issues will serve as a model for Republicans running next year."
Said Tim Kaine, the Democratic National Committee chairman and the term-limited Virginia governor: "We are disappointed."

In both states, the surveys also suggested the Democrats had difficulty turning out their base, including the large numbers of first-time minority and youth voters whom Obama attracted. The Virginia electorate was whiter in 2009 than it was in 2008, when blacks and Hispanics voted in droves to elect the country's first black president.

Democratic victories in both Virginia, a new swing state, and New Jersey, a Democratic stronghold, in 2005 preceded big Democratic years nationally in 2006 and 2008.
Tuesday's impact on Obama's popularity and on the 2010 elections could easily be overstated. Voters are often focused on local issues and local personalities.

Yet, national issues, like the recession, were clearly a factor, with voter attitudes shaped to some degree by how people feel about the state of their nation — and their place in it.

And, voter attitudes — particularly among independents — could bode ill for Democrats in moderate districts and in swing states like Ohio, Colorado and Nevada, should they remain unchanged when the party seeks to defend its turf next fall. In 2010, most governors, a third of the Senate and all members in the House will be on ballots.

It's also difficult to separate Obama from the outcomes after he devoted a significant chunk of time working to persuade voters to elect Deeds in Virginia and re-elect Corzine in New Jersey.

More than four in 10 voters in Virginia said their view of Obama factored into their choice on Tuesday, and those voters roughly split between expressing support and opposition for the president. People who said they disapprove of Obama's job performance voted overwhelmingly Republican, and those who approve of the president favored Deeds, the Democrat.

The Obama factor was similar in New Jersey, though there were slightly more voters who said the president did not factor into their choice.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Referendum Day

Republicus did his duty today as an American citizen and an Arlington, VA resident, and did his part in contributing to the first phase of undoing the mistake of Election Day last year.

Old Dominion is back.

New Jersey might go red, too, thanks in great part to the ineptitude of incumbent Democrat governor John Corzine, who had the maturity, grace, and gravitas of a sitting governor (yeah, sure) to essentially call his opponent, the corpulent Chris Christie, "fatso"--but in a sleazy and sidemouthed (i.e. liberal) way, snidely saying that Christie was "throwing his weight around."

Here's the reportage about that campaign commercial (embedding disabled by request):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrIwT08tqQA&feature=related

The aesthetically-challenged Corzine should just be glad that Christie doesn't stoop to his level and say something about taking Corzine's word at "face value":

(Wow, he's actually wearing a flag pin.)

Anyway, Virginia returning to red, New Jersey possibly, too, and the very telling race in NY, are all very bad news for the evil Left, who have been gloating about nigh-permanent Democrat majorities and dominance for decades to come.

The repulsed recoiling and reactionary reloading by the electorate in just these three elections are bellweathers that prove, yet again, that the Left must never think that it's safe to crawl out from under their rocks and exult in victory just because one of their frontmen managed to get elected on a gimmick-- his race, and that only because the electorate was confused and distracted and fooled into thinking he was satisfactorily conservative.

The ever-innocent American people (God Bless 'em) are generally too busy with their jobs and families to pay attention to--or even be aware of-- skulking, Marxist agendas, tactics, and their Manchurian candidates, and apparently do not recognize these malignant "agents of change" in their nascent stages of development.

However, it is in the nature of the devious Leftist to always overreach and blow their cover prematurely, before power can be fully and irrevocably secured, and that's precisely what's happened.

The reversal and ebbing of the "Changing Tide" that would "Crush the Right Once And For All" (as was incessantly exulted right here at this very blog by the foolhardy trolls) is already in effect a very short one year and one election after "Absolute Victory" was declared.

Today's victory in the state of Virginia--home of the Founding Fathers--is very symbolic and is not only a referendum on the new president's leftward overreach, but a smackdown of the evil ideology that has reared its head here (after being decapitated--by us, ironically--everywhere else...except in freakish, sideshow exhibits like Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea).

And the Leftists know it.

Like all of the MSM outlets,The Washington Post--the American Pravda--has dropped all pretense at objective, professional journalism and shamelessly operates in the open as a propaganda instrument of the Democrat Party.

Here in Arlington, you'll see redundant rows and rows of signs like these endorsing the Democrat lining roads and streets everywhere:



They know what's at stake with these two state and the local election in NY, and the oversaturation of such signs is nothing but desperation--and delusion, since they seem to think that an endorsement by a well-known partisan propaganda producer for the Left will inspire the good Virginians to vote for the Democrat, Deeds.

The Left had their quick, fleeting, euphoric peak one year ago, and it's been all downhill ever since.

And the hateful scribblers at The Washington Post themselves realize it, and, buckling under pressure and jettisoning all pretenses of class and professionalism, are beginning to spew obscenities on the job and turn and attack each other:

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0911/punches_thrown_in_wapo_newsroom.html

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.