What BS. BHO and JB were elected in large part because they managed, in the face of all evidence, to run to the right of JMcC-SP. Go figure.
BHO-JB pretended they weren’t much different from social conservatives. In fact, they didn’t look much different from fiscal conservatives, either, and played the bogus “tax cut” card better than JMcC. They got away with it for two reasons:
1) The JMcC-SP campaign was so busy being
Democrat Lite “mavericks” that they refused--unlike the participants on this forum--to raise issues that would have given voters a stark moral choice.
2) The media were happy to ignore the disconnect between the BHO rhetoric and his radical policies and associates. They had the perfect excuse: If the JMcC campaign doesn’t make an issue of these things, why should we?
Exit polls showed that voters overwhelming thought the economy was the most important issue. The MSM blames the government-driven mortgage collapse on either the GOP or “the free market”...and JMcC-SP respond by talking about Wall Street “greed” and those “greedy” old BIG OIL companies. This is the insidious language of
envy politics, and the GOP is certainly not in the same league with Dems when it comes to playing that card.
Given the MSMs BHO infatuation and the JMcC campaign’s insistence on sticking to a losing script until the last days, it’s little wonder that many voters decided to “make history” with the first black POTUS. A lot of Americans, regardless of party, are proud of this...although many of us would rather have someone without the resume of BHO.
Absent from the campaign coverage were issues like judicial activism, marriage, abortion, gun control, cultural depravity, and illegal immigration.
The MSM made it all about BHO's historic ascendance and JMcC's-SP’s quirks and fumbles as high-lighted nightly on Dave "The road to the White House goes through me!" Letterman or every weekend on SNL.
When people elect a president, they think about their own economic situation and a potential leader’s character...but whenever BHO’s integrity
came into focus, JMcC was quick to avoid the topic. IMO, it’s one thing to encourage civility, it’s another thing to keep people in the dark out of fear that the media will make you appear “mean” or "vindictive" (Remember Bob Dole?) for stating those oh so inconvenient truths.
Given the thin gruel of dueling tax policies offered by the candidates, many conservatives took the MSM’s cue and yawned. Numbers quickly become a bore (Remember Ross Perot's charts?), especially in an age of text messaging and funny SNL skits.
When the MSM blatantly ignore important issues as it did in this campaign, it is up to the candidate to raise them. But JMcC was so busy distancing himself from GWB that his own “change-maverick” theme was barely distinguishable from BHO’s.
IMO, the MSM shamelessly shilled for BHO...but they had a lot of help from the invertebrate wing of the GOP and JMcC's campaign staff.
An interesting post-script to all this may yet be forthcoming from Alaska, of all places. AK Senator Ted Stevens has won re-election--and has been convicted on 7 felony charges. Governor SP will have the authority to replace Stevens and, if she chooses to fill that seat herself, may create (1) an interesting dilemma for President BHO when seeking to woo Congress in support of his foreseeable socialist policy agenda and (2) set the stage for an interesting 2012 Presidential race.
Richard's $.02
