Self inflicted wounds
By Bruce Walker (03/24/08)
Howard Dean, the genius who believed that we needed to negotiate with the Soviet Union to deal with Iran (whoops! The Soviet Union has been gone seventeen years) and who would not, as president, order states to implement Right to Work (has stupidity at this level ever graced the Republc?) has done a bang up job - just a bang up job - of planning everything for his favorite incarnation of Marxism.
He chose – chose, he was not forced by the evil Republican legislature in Florida – to strip that state of all its delegates. Now this is the third largest state in the Union and a swing state at that. Depriving Florida of any voice in the Democrat Convention is a rare and refined act of political incompetence, equaled only by a presidential candidate screaming at listeners (lets’s see…who did that?) The Florida Effect will not only make it much easier for Republicans to carry the state in the presidential election, but it will also make it easier to win or to hold congressional seats and to strengthen the Republican hold on the Florida Legislature.
In Michigan, also, there are swing House seats up for election. The Michigan Legislature, not a happy sight, will have voters cast their votes knowing that the mayor of the Motor City is a corrupt Democrat buffon, that the voters of Michigan have no say in the Democrat nomination process, and that their Democrat governor is one of the least popular in America. Will that affect congressional and state legislative races? Probably. If Republicans pick up four seats in the Michigan House, they will control that body (as well as the Michigan Senate, where they stand to gain, not lose, seats, given the present chaos.) Control of the Michigan Legislature would be a huge advantage for Republicans in congressional and state legislative redistricting, as well as making the Democrat governor even more unpopular and vulnerable in 2010.
Note that Colorado has been swinging to Democrats, but not after the Denver Scrambled Eggs. What will this affect? First, consider that Coloradans may be exposed to the horror of their state displayed as some sort of Chicago 1968 Convention. Colorado is a state the prides itself on good government and also relies heavily upon tourism. Also, Colorado is anything but the sort of one-party empire that Chicago is. Second, consider that Democrats have not raised enough money to even pay for this convention, so that this economic “blessing” could turn out to be a bust.
It is hard to imagine anything more certain to disgust Colorado voters. How will this manifest itself? The presidential race in Colorado could certainly be affected by a messy Denver convention, but the ripple effects could also swing a close Senate race in Colorado to the Republicans. Democrats currently have moderate majorities in both houses of the Colorado Legislature. A messy convention could give the Democrat Party a bad enough name in Colorado to swing enough state legislative races so that Republicans would win control of that state legislature as well.
The Dean Plan was to compel an early decision and to prevent states or state parties from beginning the nomination process too early. In retrospect, that was a flop. If the Florida and Michigan primaries had been held, with all candidates competing, Obama almost certainly – given proportional distribution – would still have a significant lead in delegates, even assuming that Hillary won both primaries. The only difference would have been that this Florida and Michigan delegate seating issue would have been resolved.
“Screaming Howard” would have made a surreally incompetent president. The damage to America could have been even greater than Carter or Clinton. But as head of the Democratic National Committee, this “brilliant” political general has proven to be one of the most helpful figures that the Republican Party could have wished for. Singlehandedly giving Republicans the edge in three key states – especially for a Chairman who promised to fight in every single state – reflects an arrogance and parochialism that must make us stand it awe.
It very well could be that Republican victory in November, and not just victory in the presidential election, comes at the hands of an angry, spoiled Leftist who lacks the self-restraint and commonsense of a grade schooler. Thanks, Howard.
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Email: Bruce Walker
