On NPR this morning, Kokie Roberts interpreted a recent ABC/WaPo poll as indicating that Democrats are screwed for the election. Even whacko Tea Party candidates are doing well in Nevada, Alaska, Wisconsin and Kentucky. Therefore, the Republican mainstream makes no bones about embracing them.
Chris Cillizza in a Huff Post article cites a NY Times/CBS poll that despite the dislike of Democrats, Republicans aren't fairing any better. He quotes a GOP polster who states, "the party poised to take control has not improved its image"; namely the Republicans.
Hang onto your hats. Even if we lose, the fuse of the American electorate appears to be shorter than a twice smoked cigarette butt.
Not that they planned it, but it's pretty obvious that Republicans are temporarily benefiting from the old advertising notion of "new", as in these Tea Party candidates aren't the same old Republican losers. They're some kind of "new" and, therefore, "improved" (?#?!?) class of candidates. You don't like the Democrats, you don't like the Republicans, give the Tea Party a shot. Never mind who they are, what they stand for, and what their pasts are like. They're NEW, FRESH and, therefore, IMPROVED (?#!?).
One of the most bizarre aspects of the midterm elections is the discussion of tax cuts. Tax cutting has become an ensconced belief like the Christian triune God. It's been preached to the American public for so long now that it's simply being taken on faith as the right thing to do. It's no wonder that extending the Bush tax cuts is gaining more and more ground despite the fact that it will cost us $700 billion over ten years. Cost apparently doesn't matter because cutting taxes is ALWAYS the right thing to do.
What's slipped by in this entire argument-- and the left has somewhat allowed it-- is that tax cuts mean cutting programs. The right has been allowed to advocate cutting taxes without having to talk about what they would cut. No serious discussions ever seem to accompany cutting taxes. There are rumblings about cutting entitlements (social security, medicare, medicaid). Robert Gates, Defense Secretary, has introduced streamlining the Defense Department, but there is no real debate about what would happen to these two areas of government-- areas that represent roughly 85% of our budget.
Tax cutting has become old-fashioned exploratory surgery on the body politic. Just get in there with the scalpels and we'll find something to take out; never mind if it's vital or not.
The other curious fact about this bandwagon for Democratic destruction in November-- and they're hardly playing "Happy Days Are Here Again"-- is that I have seen no evidence to account for the effect of the huge mailing list acquired by the Obama campaign. Messages are going out in droves; I get them daily. How do we know we're not a part of some new Silent Majority who'll show up at the polls in November and do our job? That is, do our job and vote for Democrats, liberals, progressives without the fanfare and hoopla that is being accorded the Tea Party and the Republicans.
I wish somebody would dig something on all the $5-$10, $50 and up supporters for the 2008 campaign and how they're being communicated with, and what the effect is.
In the meantime, I think the Republicans are kidding themselves. In their unholy and single-minded lust for power, they're probably setting themselves up for one helluva day of reckoning, I reckon.