The MoveOn Senate Slam Dunk and Republican Prospects
By Bruce Walker (09/22/07)
On September 20, the United States Senate, guided by the brilliant tactics of Senator Cornyn of Texas, forced a roll call vote on the "Sense of the Senate" regarding the despicable MoveOn.org advertisement in the New York Times which suggested General Pretraeus was "General Betray Us." Every single Republican voted for that resolution, and many Democrats from red states did as well. Only twenty-five Senate Democrats voted against the resolution condemning MoveOn.org.
Their votes, however, could have a profound effect upon the presidential election and also upon the prospects of Republicans minimizing their losses in the Senate in the 2008 election cycle, something absolutely essential to the success of conservatives during the first two years of the next president’s administration.
Why? Because the lopsidedness of the vote, in which about half of all Democrat senators voted to condemn this virtual control of the Democrat Party by MoveOn.org and the sliming of one of America’s finest, General Petraeus, means that the real political argument about our war against global terrorism is not within the Republican Party, but within the Democrat Party, with about half of Democrats disgusted by the enslavement of their party by MoveOn.org.
This sort of vote, in which every Democrat candidate but Biden voted with MoveOn.org, except for Obama, who was absent, means that when Hillary is nominated in 2008, she will have been on record as a puppet of that half of the Democrat Party which will do anything to defeat Republicans, even if it means American being defeated or our soldiers’ lives placed in jeopardy.
How can Hillary carry any Red state, when even incumbent senators in those states realized that voting for MoveOn.org and against America would enrage so many voters back home? The number of states that Hillary will be able to carry, after this Senate vote, has shrunk dramatically – provided that all Republican candidates do what Rudy did, and grab onto this issue without ever letting go.
Beyond presidential politics, it is possible that this vote could put into play Democrat seats in Red or near-Red states which had heretofore been considered safe. Tom Harkin from Iowa, for example, voted with MoveOn.org and Hillary. Iowa is a swing state, not too Republican and not too Democrat. This vote, which shows Harkin wildly out of synch with the nation, may become a serious issue in Iowa, and this is particularly true if the surge continues to succeed and troops do begin to come home.
Senator Wyden of Oregon also comes from a Democrat-leaning state, but nothing like Massachusetts. President Bush in 2000 came within a few thousand votes of carrying Oregon, and the other Oregon senator is a conservative Republican. Again, Oregonians will have to decide next November if they are in the minority, nutty one quarter of the nation, like Wyden, or whether they are truly moderate, which would mean electing a Republican in his place.
Jay Rockefeller is from a Red state which voted twice for President Bush. Although it may seem, with his vast personal fortune and his tenure that he is unbeatable, the people of West Virginia are very patriotic. His vote was very unpatriotic. One of the three congresspersons from West Virginia is a very popular Republican. Should she run against Rockefeller, and should she nail his hide to the wall with this vote, his defeat is not inconceivable.
The same is true for Senator Levin in Michigan, which is really a swing state. A strong Republican candidate who makes this vote a key campaign issue may be able to knock Levin off in 2008 or persuade him not to run, leaving an open seat. And the same is true with Senator Lautenberg in New Jersey – hardly a Red state, but a state drenched in every sort of Democrat corruption. This senator has already said that he would retire, and being forced to vote on this unpopular resolution may help persuade him to do that. Republicans have groomed some good candidates, like Kean, who might well win the second time around.
The consequence of the cowering of craven Democrats, if Republicans stand firm, will turn the tide in America just as the surge turned the tide in Iraq. The most important thing is for Republicans to stand firmly behind “General Betray Us” and not allow the American people to forget for a moment, before the next election, that three quarters of the American Senate agreed with the Republicans that MoveOn.org is despicable and that the American military is noble and that the Democrat nominee – and party apparatus – has chosen voluntarily to side with what is vile.
Bruce Walker
http://brucewwalker.com/
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