Liberal pundits and the politicians whose agendas they favor continue to misunderstand the Tea Party movement and, what is worse, fail to realize how much the disdainful tone of their criticism fuels it. This may be changing now as the ominous signs proliferate — the primary victories of Christine O’Donnell, Joe Miller, Rand Paul and Sharron Angle, the likely election victory of Marco Rubio and, in recent days, the startling news that Carl Paladino and Joe DioGuardi may be closing in on supposedly shoo-ins Andrew Cuomo and Kirsten Gillibrand (I say “may be” because there are conflicting polls). And of course there is Sarah Palin, who, despite endless analyses of her personal and political shortcomings, looms larger on the national stage every day.
The usual response to each tea part victory has been to say (1) it’s a one-off aberration (2) the primary turnout was low and unrepresentative and (3) he or she could never win in the general election. This has even been the position of the Republican party regulars who have often opposed the upstarts. Mitch McConnell was visibly upset by Rand Paul’s victory. Ten days before the Delaware primary, that state’s Republican party chairman Tom Ross called O’Donnell a liar who was “unhinged from reality.” Rick Lazio and Rudy Giuliani have declined to endorse Paladino, who is known as “crazy Carl” (an epithet he cheerfully embraces). Karl Rove has expressed alarm at the emergence of candidates who “did not evince the characteristics of rectitude, truthfulness and sincerity, and character.”
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I picked up on this column because I think Dr. Fish is correct. All through his column he points out where Democrats have gone off the rails and sums up by stating:
“What to do? It is easier, of course, to say what not to do, and what not to do is what Democrats and their allies are prone to do — poke gleeful fun at the lesser mortals who say and believe strange things and betray an ignorance of history.
That won’t work. Better, perhaps, to take a cue from Hercules, who figured out the source of Antaeus’s strength and defeated him by embracing him in a bear hug, lifting him up high, and preventing him from touching the ground. Don’t sling mud down in the dust where your opponents thrive. Instead, engage them as if you thought that the concerns they express (if not their forms of expression) are worthy of serious consideration, as indeed they are. Lift them up to the level of reasons and evidence and see how they fare in the rarified air of rational debate where they just might suffer the fate of Antaeus.”
My personal view is that he won’t be heard because Democrats refuse to pay attention to the obvious and so his final line may well become a self-fullfilling prophecy:
“It’s at least worth a try, because the way things are going we may soon be looking at Senator O’Donnell, Governor Paladino and, down the road a bit, President Palin.”
Dick Morris has said as much in the video in the sidebar.
Florida residents will be interested in this bit of political chicanery. Daniel Webster should sue Alan Grayson’s ass off because a desperate “Dem” has crossed a line from political give and take to a really nasty accusation which is clearly untrue.
This is exactly what Dr. Fish is writing about and why I believe Democrats must be removed from power ASAP.
It’s too early to tell if O’Donnell is well grounded or not. But the people choose her, presumably because they liked what they heard, i.e. “Smaller government”. We know she believes that much. Besides she’s only going to be 1 Senator out of a 100 … how risky can that be? Compared to say Biden as VP about whom we know a lot .. .for example we know for sure that unlike O’Donnell, Biden is just another suit who likes big government because that’s what he’s delivered for over 3 decades. Furthermore Biden is next in line to most powerful position in the world; that is risky!
It’s like Rob Ford, we know he has warts but we also know his number one priory is slashing the out of control spending at Silly Hall. So how risky could it be to have him as Mayor, warts and all, compared to any of the others whom we know going into this do not feel passionately about dealing with our number one priority.
Dr Fish says “The Tea Party’s strength comes from the down-to-earth rhetoric it responds to and proclaims, and whenever high-brow critics heap the dirt of scorn and derision upon the party, its powers increase.”
That’s certainly my experience as I didn’t pay much attention to Palin, Glen Beck or Rob Ford until it became apparent they were driving the progressives wild. So now after following these characters it’s easy to agree with at least 2/3 of what they have to say, which is as good as it’s ever gonna get.
Meanwhile Obama is criticising his base for not supporting him as quoted in his interview with Rolling Stone “Obama wants disenchanted supporters to see that Republican wins in November would undermine the ability of Democrats to get the unfinished business done, from climate change legislation to allowing gays to serve openly in the military.” Got those priorities you folks in the unemployment lines??? … do the unemployed or anyone in the Tea Parties (now 50% identify themselves with the TPers) think there is a pressing need to address climate change and gays in the military … is Obama stark raving mad?
Nom…speaking of Ford, I’m surprised that several prominent provincial conservatives lead by Bassett (Ernie Eves life partner – I think I have that right) is throwing their weight/support in with George Silverman, a former provincial liberal Health Minister who was not known for running a very cost efficient Ministry.
As I have often said, its getting harder to tell liberals from some conservatives without a score card.
Agree, the PCs need to be purged and I think that is Hudak’s problem with not be able to get a platform together. I think he’s a real conservative. But without enough similar thinking to shrink government within the PCs ( and without the funding from the moneybags in the establishment) he’ll get nowhere.
So we need to TP the PC’s like they are doing to the GOP, i.e. help Hudak purge the CINOs by yelling and screaming that we want conservatism. If we don’t, he’ll end up being another Ernie Eves (yup married to Isabel) and we’ll be stuck with the emphasis on “Progressive” in the PCs. Also Hudak might get blindsided by a new 11th hour Liberal leader or he might end up with a deadlocked minority .. .we know what that’s like. Ontario is economically uncompetitive, this can’t go on or unemployment will get worse.
Agree Nom but the big question is how? And your right, the lieberals smelling defeat, might pull something/new leader out of their magic hat and start telling lies similar to McGuinty’s infamous ‘I wont raise your taxes’ that some might believe again, like the so called ‘liberal city elites.’
More importantly, lets hope that Hudak doesnt drop the ball like John Tory did on funding religious schools, even though Ontario does so for Catholics and Francophones.
All the liberals need is one screw-up from the right and ‘their off to the races’ as the old saying goes.