Delaware Tea Party Victory?

[Lord Jim]

I was being sarcastic...






sort of...

[Lord Jim]

In all seriousness, I don't believe the DSCC has really been behind this...

They're not that good...

What's really been going on here is, that you have a lot of really pissed off people (fueled largely by the down economy) who just want to shoot anybody associated with Washington, even if that means that the bullet will ultimately lodge in their own foot. (They probably don't even think it out that far)

Their impact has been magnified beyond their numbers in many cases because of nominating structures that allowed relatively small groups of people to have disproportionate influence. In Nevada, Angle won with a plurality because there was no runoff provision. Utah has a screwy system where a small group of convention attendees gets to decide who goes on the primary ballot. In Delaware, there were only 57,000 total voters in the primary.

That having been said, ignorance and anger are not a good combination. One really must be quite stupid to be so angry with a Mike Castle that you think your views are going to be better served if Harry Reid and Co are running the Senate, but that's what a majority of GOP primary voters in Delaware voted for last night.

[Sue U]

Jim, what you are witnessing is a genuine hijacking of the Republican party by powerful anti-tax, anti-regulation corporate interests working hand-in-glove with far-right extremist ideologues to manipulate an angry and ignorant bloc of the electorate. Recognizing that it could not successfully create its own independent neo-Fascist party out of whole cloth, the "Tea Party" funding is essentially nothing less than a wholesale purchase of the GOP apparatus in situ. It's a shrewd move: even if it doesn't result in electoral majorities, a sufficiently strident opposition can hamstring legislative initiatives of the majority (as we've seen the last 18 months). It's cynical, it's disgusting, and it's proving to be very effective. But if you're looking for a party of principled policy positions capable of the political give-and-take necessary for a functioning government, the GOP is no longer your first choice.

[Guinevere]

First Delaware, next Maine:

9/8/09 Maine PPP (Public Policy Polling) Poll
Libby Mitchell 29%
Paul LePage 43%
Eliot Cutler 11%
Shawn Moody 5%
Kevin Scott 1%
Undecided 12%

I guess I really *am* going to have to move my mother out of there as soon as possible. Sigh.

[Beer Sponge]

Hey Guin, Canada is quite nice! Bring your mom!

[Gob]

Well, I've said it before, but now it's conclusive: The insane wingnut faction is dressed in a suicide vest and has barricaded itself inside the GOP with 4 tons of C4.

Jim, in true Frankensteinian (Frankenstinian?) fashion your party created a monster that has come back to kill its creator. It is now no longer a convenient tool for Republican pandering to the retarded racist xenophobe "base;" it is now the blood-thirsty bootlicking zombie servant of the Scaife-Koch-Olin cabal and corporate masters of the pharma, insurance and petrochemical industries, who are only too happy to piss all over the teabaggers and tell them it's just trickle-down economics.

I swear, I have never seen so much concentrated idiocy and fundamental lack of comprehension on public display. Stupid should be painful, so that there might be less of it.

ETA:

GAH!

I love that post!!

Sue, the only thing that would make your observation more wonderful, is being, as I and others are, foreign observers of the US political scene.

I mean, I imagine most of us find the whole US zeitgeist unbelievably amusing, but when we have a concise and accurate summation, such as yours to back it up, it becomes Billy Connolly level hysterical

[Scooter]

Hey Guin, Canada is quite nice! Bring your mom!

Umm, I'd suggest she hold off until after the next election, when we'll see whether Harper will get his majority and turn Canada into his version of Tea Party Heaven, or if people will finally realize that even a moron can do a lot of damage.

[Gob]

The win, by marketing consultant Christine O'Donnell, a fundamentalist Christian who once headed a national TV campaign against masturbation, is a sharp rebuke to the Republican establishment which had backed the two-time former governor and nine-term congressman Mike Castle in the race.

I love you America!!!

[Jarlaxle]

You know...considering the political climate, I would say that Christine O'Donnell actually CAN win this November.

[dales]

Gob:

Does that act of "love" include self-abuse

[Sue U]

Sue, the only thing that would make your observation more wonderful, is being, as I and others are, foreign observers of the US political scene.

If it's any consolation, I sometimes feel like I'm observing a foreign country right here. But then I turn off the Faux Newz channel.

And beware of mocking the "U.S. zeitgeist," lest we get a notion to bring democracy to you, too.

ETA:

Oh, and speaking of "you" and "Faux Newz," Aus has a lot to answer for, having not suffocated Rupert Murdoch in his crib.

[Sue U]

The win, by marketing consultant Christine O'Donnell, a fundamentalist Christian who once headed a national TV campaign against masturbation, is a sharp rebuke to the Republican establishment which had backed the two-time former governor and nine-term congressman Mike Castle in the race.

I love you America!!!

Seen on another site, a proposed slogan for the O'Donnell campaign:

"Don't Touch Me There In Delaware"

[Gob]

.

And beware of mocking the "U.S. zeitgeist," lest we get a notion to bring democracy to you, too.

LOL Bring beer too.

.
Oh, and speaking of "you" and "Faux Newz," Aus has a lot to answer for, having not suffocated Rupert Murdoch in his crib.

Oh we've disposed of him nicely. We sent him off to some poor third world nation where he can do less harm

[Gob]

All these hot chicks talking about masturbation made me really horny, I think I'll go have a wank....

[tyro]

A great antidote for anyone who thought there was hope for this planet.

[Lord Jim]

Ya know, I have to say...

O'Donnell has handled herself (no pun intended) really well in a whole series of interviews after her primary win and a debate last night, dealing with these "personal" issues rather skillfully, head on....

She's actually much better at thinking on her feet than the former Governor of Alaska...

She also raised $875,000 in the first 24 hours after she won the primary...

And I double dog dare the Democrats to try to make an issue out her having had a house foreclosed....

In a "normal" political year she wouldn't stand a chance, in a blue leaning state like Delaware, but with the economy in the shape it is, and the anger level of the electorate, even this race can't be counted as an automatic win for the Dems...

I agree with Joe Biteme, who quite candidly said the day after she won that if his party thinks they've got this one in the bag, they're making a mistake....

[Crackpot]

I agree with Joe Biteme, who quite candidly said the day after she won that if his party thinks they've got this one in the bag, they're making a mistake....

Then again that's a long standing lesson for the dems. One they never seem to learn.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Rick Lazio, the "chosen one" of the Repub leaders to run for governor against Cuomo, was beaten by Carl Paladino in tuesdays primary as Lazio thought it was "in the bag" and forgot that NY isn't just Long Island.

[Lord Jim]

Rick Lazio, the "chosen one" of the Repub leaders to run for governor against Cuomo, was beaten by Carl Paladino in tuesdays primary as Lazio thought it was "in the bag" and forgot that NY isn't just Long Island.

I've always liked Rick Lazio, but in all honesty he never had much of a chance against Cuomo....

He should have run against Gillibrand...

Just as a non-partisan aside, I have to say I really don't think much of these September primaries....

This is a weird year , but as a general rule it seems to me that they really stack the deck in favor of incumbents, (regardless of party) and incumbents don't really need any more advantages than they already have....

[tyro]

She's actually much better at thinking on her feet than the former Governor of Alaska...

Who isn’t?