I had to laugh outloud at the headline on the front page of the Washington Post this morning:
Elections Are Crux Of GOP's Strategy;
Bush Aides Look to Midterm Vote as Way to Reverse Slide
I laughed outloud because, without even needing to read the article, I knew the Bush crew and GOP are living in dreamworld.
At least after the discussions I had with my Republican in-laws this weekend.
My father-in-law is a retired Major from the Air Force. He currently lives in Virginia and works for a defense contractor. He listens to Limbaugh and Hannity(always with a little grain of salt, but he can still regurgitate the talking points). For the longest time, my in-laws did not give Democrats credit for
anything .
Used to be I just tried to avoid talking politics with him (at Thanksgiving this year, my and my wife and sister-in-law got into a little rumble with him about Hurricaine Katrina and the blame game, i.e. federal vs. local officials). But after this weekend, I'm finding speaking with my in-laws about politics is becoming a more pleasant experience.
Here are some of the nuggets from this weekend:
* Democrats in Virginia, take note: my in-laws REALLY like Jim Webb. They WILL vote for him. They told me so. Which means that Allen doesn't stand a chance if you nominate Webb. They see Harris Miller as the "politics as usual" candidate, and they are afraid that with the Democractic party establishment behind Miller, he will win the nomination. Which means Allen wins reelection easily. My in-laws don't like Allen, particularly his attitude that he is "bored" with representing them. Trust me, Virginia Democrats, if you nominate Webb, a wide swath of otherwise Republican leaning military establishment and retirees are going to put him over the top in places like Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Don't screw this one up.
* On the Republican Party, my mother-in-law wondered aloud how her chosen party allowed itself to be "hijacked" by the religious nutcase wing. While she states that there are "fringe" elements in both parties, she seems to think the "fringe" in the Republican party is doing a lot more damage to the country right now. And get this: my in-laws, McCain supporters in 2000, have soured on him as well. No specific reason why, but there was some mention of him galvanting with the Falwell crowd.
* My father-in-law nearly knocked me out when we got on to talking about "straight talking" politicians. He said, "You know who really impressed me as a straight-talking, honest politician? I got to meet him recently at a breakfast for business leaders." I asked who he was referring to. He replied, " Tim Kaine. " Seriously, I would have fainted if I wasn't riding in a car at the time.
* Speaking of Kaine, my in-laws are livid that the Republican-dominated Virginia House of Delegates are holding up the transportation plan brokered between Kaine and the Virginia Senate. My in-laws, always a fan of lower taxes, said the House of Delegates was being irresponsible. They're "kooks", according to my mother-in-law. "How do they expect to pay for the transporation plan without some new taxes?", she asked aloud. My father-in-law bemoaned the rural Republican wackos who are holding up the transportation plan. He said the the population centers of the state, in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, are going to suffer because of it.
* We got onto a historical discussion in reference to Bush's (awful) place in history. My mother-in-law said, "We haven't had a really good president in a very long time." My father-in-law said we have a "pretty good one" 20 years ago, with an obvious reference to Reagan. My mother-in-law disagreed, saying no, "I meant a really long time. " We got to talking about different Presidents. My mother-in-law didn't understand all the worship of JFK. "Civil rights in the South were horrible under JFK." I mentioned it took LBJ to get the Civil Rights Act passed. My father-in-law says, "LBJ was a good President. He knew how government worked." I think I did faint after hearing that.
* Another nugget: my mother-in-law will be happy to see Harold Ford replace Bill Frist as Senator.
* My mother-in-law sees absolutely no reason for rank and file Republicans to even turn and vote in this year's midterms. Then again, before I left for the weekend, I heard my mother-in-law utter these words:
Maybe we should let the Democrats run Congress. They couldn't screw it up any worse than the Republicans
To which my father-in-law said:
Yeah, maybe then Bush will actually veto something . And they'll get spending under control.
Kossacks, the writing is on the wall. Six months from Election Day, Republicans are either going to stay home or seriously consider voting for Democrats. Their is no third option at this point. So, for those of you worried about Democrats "lacking a message", take heed: at this point, pointing a finger at the incompetent Republicans is the only message we need.
More importantly, though, the only thing Democrats need to give voters like my in-laws is that they are open to the idea of reform and bipartisanship, unlike the current crop of Republican leaders. If Democrats can demonstrate that, mark my words, Kossacks, 2006 will be describe Democratic gains with only one word:
LANDSLIDE