Author: hankkalet

It appears from all the available evidence that Jim Webb, the Democrat, has won the U.S. Senate seat in Virginia by the slimmest of margins. If it holds — and it should — that would give both houses of Congress to the Democrats.

But don’t expect the GOP to go down without a fight — it’s not the party’s M.O., even if Sen. George Allen, the loser in this race, is making nice-nice noises.

A recount is in the offing, one the Democrats may fight. That would be foolish. We should use the Florida model — the Democrats demanded a recount, were right to do so and should agree to one without reservations this time. The reality is that the 7,000 votes that separate the two candidates are not likely to be bridged by a recount and to fight one would leave the Democrats looking petty and partisan.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

The South Brunswick Republicans are officially deluded. There really is no other way of saying this.

In a story that will run in tomorrow’s South Brunswick Post, party Chairman Roger Craig talks of retooling and rebuilding the party in anticipation of 2008. But retooling will not be enough. This is a party that has fallen into complete disrepair. It has had trouble fielding candidates and the candidates it has attracted have tended to be weak or have already been rejected by voters.

As I told a friend, if the South Brunswick GOP were a car, you wouldn’t be able to trade it in or sell it. Your only option would be to park it by the side of the Belt Parkway, hope it gets stripped for parts and burned.

In this case, that means purging the party of its current leadership and replacing it with fresh blood.

My friend, who knows a bit about how these things work from the inside, sums up the party’s plight this way:

The South Brunswick Republicans will be a non-entity until one of two things happen … a) the Dems in office make a huge and spectacular error (e.g., a Metroplex-type decision), or b) one or more are implcated, prosecuted and found guilty of a Lynch-like-$-for-decision scandal related to such a bad decision as referenced in a), above.

There a third option (option C), he says:

A local with (state Assemblyman Bill) Baroni’s charisma, intelligence, enthusiasm and vision decides he/she want to run for local office, happens to be a close relative of Bill Gates and can fund his/her own campaign, and is unconcerned about the mud which can be slung in local politics.

Given those options, it’s better for the health to not hold one’s breath waiting for c) to occur before a) and/or b).

Not that a) and/or b) appear on the radar screen at the moment.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Another off-the-beaten-path commentary on the election that is worth reading, this time from Juan Cole.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Donald Rumsfeld has announced his resignation as defense secretary. Don’t let the door hit you in the behind on the way out.

(Side note to this: Former CIA Director Robert Gates is being nominated to replace him — not exactly a huge upgrade, but we’ll have to take it.)

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Want analysis of last night’s public flogging of the Republicans? Forget the gibberish being offered by all those useless talking heads on the cable shows, just read this post by David Corn on his Capital Games blog on The Nation‘s Web site. A sample:

There is no way to spin the election results. They were a repudiation of George W. Bush, his party, his agenda, and his war. The commander in chief argues that he is fighting a war in Iraq that is essential to the survival of the United States. The electorate sent a message: we don’t buy it. Political genius Karl Rove and GOP chieftain Ken Mehlman, with their scare tactics (defeatist Democrats will surrender to the terrorists; Nancy Pelosi will destroy the nation) and below-the-belt ads, were not able to defy popular sentiment. Comeuppance was the order of the day. Because of Bush, R became a scarlet letter. In Rhode Island, incumbent Republican Senator Lincoln Chaffee, a moderate who voted against the war in 2002 and against Bush in 2004, enjoyed a 66 percent approval rating; still, voters sent him packing. Children, pay attention. If you’re a president who misleads the nation into war and then mismanages that war, you might sneak past a reelection but then bring ruin upon your party. The Bush-wreaked reality trumped the Rove-designed rhetoric–finally. The voters chose not to stay his course. The market worked.

Yes. It certianly did.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick