Tag: Elections

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Pres. McCain Will Be 72 on Election Day 2008

Jon Ponder

He’d Be 76 at His Second Inauguration in 2012, and 80 At the End of His Second Term.

Pres. McCain’s superannuation will put a lot of pressure on him to choose a young and healthy vice president. (We’ve heard that Dan Quayle is tanned and rested.)

By contrast, Ronald Reagan, our oldest president to date, was 69 years old at his inauguration in 1980.

As regular readers know, I am a huge supporter of Newt Gingrich to be the GOP nominee in 2008. Republican voters please note: Newt will be a spry and 63 years old in 2008.

Poll: Bush Drops to 32% in Pew Survey

Jon Ponder

I still think Bush is very lucky to have even this much support:

Bush’s own job approval ratings have hit a new low in the aftermath of the elections. Just 32 percent of Americans approve of Bush’s job performance compared with 58 percent who disapprove. Bush’s job rating stands at just 24 percent among political independents, who proved crucial to the Democrats’ victory on Nov. 7.

Boy, those independents are smart.

GOP Hypocrisy Blows the Top Off the Bottle with Martinez Appointment

Trish

The Republican attack on Florida governor candidate U.S. Rep. Jim Davis consisted of slamming him for campaigning. A TV ad was played nonstop for weeks, depicting an empty chair whizzing around Washington, while a Florida tourist family (with vaguely Ohioan accents) trails behind. “Do you think we’ll see him next time, Dad?” the son asks. “I don’t know, son. I just don’t know.”

Martinez was chosen in large part because he’s Cuban, and the Republicans did almost as badly with Latino voters this time as they did with African-Americans

Davis missed votes, we were told. He was too busy with politics to do the work we sent him to Washington to do. Wonder if the GOP will be trotting those ads out in 2008, when Florida Sen. Mel Martinez is running the Republican National Committee?

Doubt it. Predictably, Martinez’s split shift workday is being hailed not as a callous ditching of responsibility, as was Davis’s campaigning, but a big ol’ plus for Florida.

“It’s awesome for Florida. It says a great deal about this state and its strength,” said Republican Party of Florida chairwoman Carole Jean Jordan.

…Martinez, who will keep his Senate seat, will bring that much more attention to a state that is already considered to be a top prize in presidential politics.

Oh come on. Martinez was chosen in large part because he’s Cuban, and the Republicans did almost as badly with Latino voters this time as they did with African-Americans. While 8 percent of all voters were Latino, only 26 percent to 42 percent (it’s an estimate) of them voted Repug.

…Florida Democrats noted that their party won the Hispanic vote in last week’s election for the first time in three decades.

“This reflects the renewed emphasis by Democrats in using multimedia communications to win support from the fastest growing community in the United States, as well as Hispanic support for finding real solutions to raising the minimum wage, affordable health care and the war in Iraq,” said Florida Democratic Party executive director Luis Navarro in a statement.

It also shows Republicans are doing something wrong.

Mel was one of the chairs of the Bush campaign in 2000, helping Katherine Harris in her strategy to keep the votes from being accurately counted. He has been consistently rewarded for his nefarious deeds while Harris has been treated like the embarrassment she is.

But at least one analyst noticed Mel already had a job when he took on his new one.

…the duel role will be difficult, said [Poltical Scientist Matthew] Corrigan.

“Being a senator is a full-time job, so is taking on the RNC. I think it is a serious challenge,” he said. “How he balances those roles is an important question.”

It’s also a question not nearly enough people are asking.

Genius Blossom

Jon Ponder
Rove placed so much faith in his figures that, after the elections, he planned to convene a panel of Republican political scientists—to study just how wrong the polls were.

When Boy Geniuses go bad:

{Karl] Rove’s miscalculations began well before election night. The polls and pundits pointed to a Democratic sweep, but Rove dismissed them all. In public, he predicted outright victory, flashing the V sign to reporters flying on Air Force One. He wasn’t just trying to psych out the media and the opposition. He believed his “metrics” were far superior to plain old polls.

Two weeks before the elections, Rove showed NEWSWEEK his magic numbers: a series of graphs and bar charts that tallied early voting and voter outreach. Both were running far higher than in 2004. In fact, Rove thought the polls were obsolete because they relied on home telephones in an age of do-not-call lists and cell phones. Based on his models, he forecast a loss of 12 to 14 seats in the House—enough to hang on to the majority.

Rove placed so much faith in his figures that, after the elections, he planned to convene a panel of Republican political scientists—to study just how wrong the polls were.

Norquist: Sherwood Lost Because His Mistress ‘Whined’ about Being Strangled

Jon Ponder
Sherwood’s seat would have been overwhelmingly ours, if his mistress hadn’t whined about being throttled.”
— Grover Norquist

Grover Norqist, the GOP operative who has been best pals with Jack Abramoff since college, is in denial about the message sent by voters in the midterm elections last week.

Norquist believes the heavy Republican losses were not caused by discontent with the Iraq war but rather by voters’ fits of pique over the foibles of various members of Congress. For example, Rep. Sherwood’s loss in Pennsylvania, Norquist says, was a result of Sherwood’s mistress whining about his abusive behavior:

“Bob Sherwood’s seat would have been overwhelmingly ours, if his mistress hadn’t whined about being throttled,” said Mr Norquist.

This is wrong on so many levels, the least of which is the fact that Sherwood’s name is Don, not Bob.

Despite running a campaign ad in which he apologized for committing adultery but denied the allegations of abuse, Sherwood lost to Vice Adm. Joseph Sestak, his Democratic opponent.

He Wasn’t Lying Then, He’s Lying Now

Trish

You heard it here first.

I don’t think Bush was lying when he told reporters last week that Rumsfeld was here to stay. I think he was lying when he told reporters this week that he was planning to get rid of him all along.

I mean, come on, since when has Bush/Rove ever been careful not to do something that would impact an election, the justification he gave for not announcing Rumsfeld’s departure sooner?

Think about it. If Bush had done as “fine” as he expected, do you think for one minute he’d have gotten rid of Rummy?

And the reason why is I didn’t want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign…

And so [Rumsfeld] and I both agreed in our meeting yesterday that it was appropriate that I accept his resignation. And so the decision was made — actually, I thought we were going to do fine yesterday.

Think about it. If Bush had done as “fine” as he expected, do you think for one minute he’d have gotten rid of Rummy? Hell no. He’d have stayed the course with maniacal glee, tacking that boat right over a tsunami without a backward glance.

On the other hand, if they had realized how fed up we all were with his conduct of the war (among other things), do you really believe he wouldn’t have rushed to dump Rumsfeld? Think how differently the election would have gone if he had. People would have taken it as a sign of hope that things were going to change, and that maybe the Republicans aren’t such bad fellows after all. And they would have softened on throwing the bastards out.

He blew it but he wasn’t lying then, he’s lying now.

That’s my take. So what do you think?

First Mehlman, Next Karl Rove?

Trish

Somebody measure the drapes in Karl Rove’s office. It didn’t take long for Georgie’s vexation at his party’s sorry showing in the midterm elections to manifest. First Rumsfeld was gone and now Ken Mehlman has gotten the ax. Yes, the Republican National Committee’s chair is outta there at the end of the year.

No one’s pointing a finger at the guy who was really in charge of all the losing strategies. Yes, I’m talking about Turd Blossom himself, Karl Rove

And while rumors abound about both men — Mehlman being pretty much known to be gay and Rumsfeld’s head supposedly on the chopping block for at least a week before his “resignation” was “accepted” — no one’s pointing a finger at the guy who was really in charge of all the losing strategies. Yes, I’m talking about Turd Blossom himself, Karl Rove.

Karl has shown the pressure lately. After Florida Governor candidate, now Governor-elect, Charlie Crist failed to attend a rally with the President in his honor just before the election, Karl was feeling it. One moment of Rovian pique was even immortalized by Crist’s campaign workers at a victory party.

…dozens of campaign staff then arrived wearing black T-shirts that said “Ask George LeMieux.”

…Asked [earlier] by CNN why Crist wouldn’t appear with the president at an election eve rally in Pensacola, a miffed Rove snapped that the reporter should ask George LeMieux.

LeMieux was Crist’s campaign manager.

Mehlman was hand-picked and cultivated by Rove, so his failure and subsequent exit can’t be good news for Karl.

A protege of Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, Mehlman became RNC chairman after managing Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004, when the president won re-election and Republicans expanded their majorities in the House and the Senate…Before that campaign, he served as White House political director under Rove.

Bush’s comment to reporters post-election speaks volumes about his current feelings toward the man who more than likely took a fall for Bush in the Valerie Plame affair.

Bush also got in a dig at his trusted top political adviser, Karl Rove. Rove is widely credited with Bush’s presidential victories in 2000 and 2004 and GOP gains in the 2002 congressional elections. As recently as last week, Rove predicted Republicans would retain both House and Senate.

“I obviously was working harder in the campaign than he was,” said Bush…

Ha ha, funny. Unless you’re Karl Rove, and then there’s a big sweat stain spreading under both your arms. People contrast George with his little brother, Jeb, finding the elder sibling more affable, down to earth, etc. (Not me, of course, but people.) Jeb has always made it abundantly clear he’s a conniving, nasty, petulant asshole who will take you out if you cross him. But I think this trait, inherited from Mom’s side of the family, is present in all the offspring.

And Karl Rove should be putting his affairs in order.