Meanwhile, independents continue to lean heavily toward the GOP in their voting intentions, a sharp change from both 2006 and 2008. Among independent voters most likely to cast ballots this year, 53 percent say they favor the Republican in their district, compared with 33 percent who favor the Democratic candidate. – Democrats gain in poll but GOP still leads as midterm elections near
This campaign ad is one for the history books.
For all the energy the Tea Party Republicans have provided, they stepped over the cliff in the Senate race in Delaware, with Sarah Palin the person who led them over it. So, though Sarah Palin has been the leader of a movement that has given the only life to the Republican Party they currently enjoy, her choice to back Christine O’Donnell is a colossal embarrassment. Ms. O’Donnell is getting creamed and proclaiming in this weird ad “I’m not a witch” won’t help. Whoever thought that was a winner must have been a Democratic saboteur masquerading as a Republican.
Another Tea Party candidate, Linda McMahon, got some bad poll news today. Richard Blumenthal is up by 12 points according to the latest PPP poll, which comes as a real relief, since other polls have showed McMahon much closer. McMahon joining Miller in saying she’s against the minimum wage being enforced on businesses. Hey, that’s your GOTP, because Republicans have never been crazy about the minimum wage or unions, which fuel the middle class.
However, Congress is so disrespected by likely voters that one-third, according to today’s WashingtonPost/ABC poll, think that Tea Party candidates would “change the culture of Washington” if they were elected, most in a positive way. The energy behind this belief is what is fueling likely voters who hold the House in their hands, which will very likely flip to a Republican majority after the elections.
There are a couple reasons this is true. First, as predicted, voters aren’t listening to the Democratic campaign theme that this election is about “a choice” that would turn everything back to the Bush era. The second reality is that negative ads will get you only so far, which ties in with Indies and other likely voters siding with GOTP candidates no matter what comes at them. From Greg Sargent:
* The Dem argument about “extremist” GOPers isn’t resonating: One other finding that has to be frustrating for Dems: Only 35 percent say GOP candidates are “too conservative,” versus 40 percent who say they’re about right — meaning the public may not be listening to another core Dem message, that the party has been hijacked by Tea Party whackjob extremists.
But all this attention on Christine O’Donnell, which everyone is enjoying, will not take the sting out of what’s happening in Wisconsin, but other states as well (Pennsylvania and Ohio, to name just two, though West Virginia is also giving Dems fits). I wouldn’t have even done this post on her, except the ad was so creepy and desperate, calling attention to it was a must. Because with Russ Feingold in a lot of trouble, it’s very real that Democrats may lose one of the most independent voices in the Senate, simply because he’s been in Washington a long time and has got a “D” behind his name. But anyone thinking Sen. Feingold is an insider hasn’t been paying attention. But that’s the price of chaos politics. It’s indiscriminately cruel in how the hammer comes down.
This post has been updated.
O’Donnell isn’t the wackiest GOPer candidate, so why the obsessive attacks? It reminds me of what they did to Hillary and Sarah.
When are progressives gonna freak out over a male candidate?
(I’m a Hillary supporter, and I approved this message)
This is really getting old. When are commenters like you, myiq2xu, going to actually have the facts before going off?
You obviously don’t read my posts with any regularity at all, because your assessment is simply wrong.
This isn’t an obsessive attack, let alone in the plural. But Ms. O’Donnell is unqualified to serve in the Senate.
As for Sarah Palin, I’ve been absolutely fair to her down the line. In fact, I was one of the first on the Left to give her credit way back in summer 2009 for what she was building with the Tea Party, when others were laughing at her. I’ve done so consistently when she deserves it.
But backing Christine O’Donnell was a huge mistake and has embarrassed Palin and the GOTP. Obviously, Palin and her team, however small, didn’t vet Ms. O’Donnell at all.
I wasn’t referring to you, I was referring to the fauxgressive OFB.
My apologies for giving the wrong impression.
Thanks for clarifying, myiq2xu.
myiq,
while generally I would agree that the leftie blogs have Palin derangement syndrome, Taylor seems to be one of the only ones that can discuss her on substance.
BTW, your blog mates have turned out to be some of the most nasty, self-righteous, liars I’ve encountered in the b-sphere. Just sayin.
Just saying.
liars??? nasty??? I don’t see it Mawn.
Maybe that’s because you probably agree with their postings. Seriously, whenever I go to that site, i never fail to be shocked at the venom and outright hatred for Obama, Michelle and anyone who supported him; while the Hillary worship is replayed over and over and over. There are some very intelligent and interesting diaries that are worth reading – but they are outnumbered by the ‘i told you Obama would be the biggest disaster – he’s even worse and its all the obots fault we deserve this horror in the WH’ or similar. Anything I have ever tried to post is deleted – they don’t allow anything positive about Obama or negative about the Clintons – at least from any time I have spent reading TC.
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
I think the makers of the O’Donnell ad were going for a HS graduation picture and missed the mark.
I’m going to take the contrarian view… I think the ad is unfortunately effective at making the left look sleazy for piling on her. It does NOT make her look at all competent either, but it does make the progressive side look like they are overreacting to paint her as some firebreathing caricature.
O’Donnell should lose this race. She’s an empty candidate and her history with SALT is a turnoff and her record of statements speak for themselves. The electorate is really mad right now, though, and I’m not sure why progs/Ds want to test that. This is one race they have in the bag and should not lose, unless they manage to do the unthinkable and screw that up, too. Press O’Donnell on her statements and her policy proposals and ideas and stick to the issues. That is more than enough material to go after. All the excessive attention paid to her could backfire though, and I’d hate to see that happen. She is woefully unprepareed and it’s easy enough to point that out without having to look at Bill Maher’s vault (if she were so dangerous, why did he invite her so many times to his show?)
I generally stay out of the O’Donnell discussions, because I don’t even think she has enough substance to merit national attention.
The only reason I even mentioned her was because of this ad, which really is one for the history books.
I can’t believe I’m going to mention it, but today even Rush Limbaugh found himself wondering why O’Donnell even bothered to counter the witch meme, giving it credence.
Take the “I’m not a witch” out, put a positive background of Delaware’s coastline behind her, maybe they would have had something.
Unlike Sarah Palin, O’Donnell can’t even be taken on via substance, though Mr. Coons is doing his best.
And yet, Palin used to be that person for the Obama Left, until O’Donnell came along to be a lightning rod and shift some of that from going directly to Palin and instead diverting it to O’Donnell. To go cynicial maybe that’s why Palin backed her… to make herself look more of a heavyweight Mama G by comparison… LOL
Joking aside, I understood why you wrote about her Taylor–you’re responding to her ad that she herself put out there. Her own campaign statements are completely fair game and should be the kind of thing the left focuses on instead of the other inanity.
When I say excessive, I’m not talking about political analysis like yours… I’m talking about the nutso O’Donnell coverage like Bozo-gate sort of unintentionally mimics… it’s actually supposed to be a satire of the birthers, but I think it just ends up illustrating the left’s reaction to O’Donnell itself and the Dems having nothing better to talk about than O’Donnell, nothing of their own Dem agenda to run on. (Instead we get stories like this from The Hill where “the only move Democrats have left” is to avoid mentioning their own party/incumbency.)
Even if we disagree on the edges about this particular ad, Taylor, we seem to agree there that nothing about O’Donnell that will take the “sting” out as you put it of the miserable outlook in other states. I just wanted to take the contrarian view on this ad because I didn’t have a particular reaction to it other than… hmm… she just looks like really young, younger than her age, and sort of like a Forrest Gump figure who just happened to be at a certain place at a certain time–not quite the cunning evil person that her detractors would have me believe. It doesn’t make me want to support her at all (she turned me off from the very first SALT video that got out), but I could see how somebody might just get mad enough and at the Dems and see her as non-threatening and vote for her (which would be unfortunate.)