The Gadfly Gets It Right...Mostly
Elections: Your Gadfly's fearless election prognostications, made before the ballots were cast, were somewhat on target. Here's the recap, the actual percentages first, my guesses in parenthesis:
McCain-Palin 61-64 (65.6), Obama-Biden 34-38 (34.4).
Inhofe 56.68 (56-59), Rice 39.19 (39-42).
Roth by 2-5 over Murphy, upset possible; Murphy 52.25, Roth 47.75.
Cloud 61 (56-59), Gray 39 (41-44).
GOP takes control of State Senate by 2; GOP won control by 2.
GOP picks up 1 seat in State House; GOP picked up 4 seats.
Tacky: Obama proponents and opponents have been tacky since his election. Some bloggers and posters on forums and news sites have been not only unkind and uncivil; they've been downright nasty. If is everlasting interest to me that some folks believe they enhance themselves by belittling others.
Real Tacky: MSNBC and CNN anchors and commentators continue their unrestrained attacks on Sarah Palin, reporting with glee on purported differences between her and the McCain team, her alleged shopping sprees and what they claim was her unpreparedness for the national stage. Real Tacky II: Recriminations from the architects of a failed campaign are not unusual, but they generally say more about the recriminators and the art of butt-covering than they do about reality. The drivel coming, ostensibly, from McCain campaign insiders, is a good example. Most of it seems directed at Sarah Palin; they contend she hurt the ticket. I disagree. Rasmussen reports that about 70 percent of Republicans believe she helped the ticket; put me in that number. She energized the lethargic conservative GOP base when McCain needed it and her star quality is evident. What's clear from some of the "leaks" about Palin from McCain insiders is that McCain's campaign was a hodge-podge, composed of those with little loyalty to him or to the GOP.
Strange 'Change': Obama's short list of potential administration appointees, thus far, looks like a list of recycled D. C. insiders and power brokers, many of them from the Clinton Administration.
How Ironic: Homosexuals who supported Obama must be doing a slow burn (or melt-down) as the realization hits them that many of those who voted for him in California also voted to ban gay marriages. Obama swept California and analysts report it was the huge turnout of black voters opposed to gay marriage who helped enact the ban. So while the gays and blacks in California were in the same Obama nest, they weren't birds of a feather.
Racist Poppycock: Some Oklahoma Democrats posting on their local community forum are of the opinion that the only way to explain Obama's loss of all 77 Oklahoma counties is racism, and some of them refer specifically to their fellow Democrats. Are these the same Democrats who did not rejoice when conservative Republican J. C. Watts, an African-American, won election to the Corporation Commission...and then to Congress in the 4th District? I note also that white liberal John Kerry got about the same number of Oklahoma presidential votes that Obama recorded. While racism may have been a small part of the equation in some parts of the state, the more educated and likely surmise is that Obama's liberal philosophy, support of gay marriage and record of opposition to the right to keep and bear arms played a more major part in his lack of support here just as those positions did in Kerry's case.
Blue Dog Firewall? Will the Blue Dog Democrats in Congress be the firewall against legislation that is certain to come from the Obama Administration? While liberals, joined by their conspirators in the mainstream media, are convinced we'll see a new era of unrestrained liberalism under Obama, they overlook the potential clout of a Blue Dog Democrat-conservative Republican alliance to block or alter legislation. They also overlook the constituencies represented by many new congressional Democrats who defeated Republicans in essentially conservative districts. Oklahoma's Dan Boren, who pointedly did not endorse Obama, is a Blue Dog Democrat whose voice may be heard as Obama's proposals come forth.
No Record: Tuesday's voting did not set a new turnout record. It fell about a thousand votes short of the 2004 presidential turnout despite all the hype (mostly from Democrats) about their voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, and the huge turnout of early voters.
All Smiles: State GOP Chairman Gary Jones, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee and House Speaker Chris Benge may be forgiven their broad smiles on election night, given the absolute whooping they combined to put on Oklahoma Democrats. It was, essentially, a clean sweep for the GOP as they won all the statewide races, added two members of the Senate and added a (stunning) four members of the House. Sent Packing: It's been a tough stretch for Aubrey McClendon of Chesapeake Energy Corp. First, the stock market crash forced him to sell off his bajillion dollars worth of company stock. Then his candidate to defeat Rep. Randy Terrill took a whooping from Terrill. Then his man on the Corporation Commission, Jim Roth, lost his election bid. Now, there's talk of a possible Chesapeake takeover.
Aw, Shucks: TMRO, to read what some readers have written, is aglow. "The Gold Standard for Oklahoma political news," one elected state official wrote on Wednesday. "You are our political north star," wrote a local official. And then there's this return-to-earth message from a local Democrat: "You're a Republican hack bastard."
McCain-Palin 61-64 (65.6), Obama-Biden 34-38 (34.4).
Inhofe 56.68 (56-59), Rice 39.19 (39-42).
Roth by 2-5 over Murphy, upset possible; Murphy 52.25, Roth 47.75.
Cloud 61 (56-59), Gray 39 (41-44).
GOP takes control of State Senate by 2; GOP won control by 2.
GOP picks up 1 seat in State House; GOP picked up 4 seats.
Tacky: Obama proponents and opponents have been tacky since his election. Some bloggers and posters on forums and news sites have been not only unkind and uncivil; they've been downright nasty. If is everlasting interest to me that some folks believe they enhance themselves by belittling others.
Real Tacky: MSNBC and CNN anchors and commentators continue their unrestrained attacks on Sarah Palin, reporting with glee on purported differences between her and the McCain team, her alleged shopping sprees and what they claim was her unpreparedness for the national stage. Real Tacky II: Recriminations from the architects of a failed campaign are not unusual, but they generally say more about the recriminators and the art of butt-covering than they do about reality. The drivel coming, ostensibly, from McCain campaign insiders, is a good example. Most of it seems directed at Sarah Palin; they contend she hurt the ticket. I disagree. Rasmussen reports that about 70 percent of Republicans believe she helped the ticket; put me in that number. She energized the lethargic conservative GOP base when McCain needed it and her star quality is evident. What's clear from some of the "leaks" about Palin from McCain insiders is that McCain's campaign was a hodge-podge, composed of those with little loyalty to him or to the GOP.
Strange 'Change': Obama's short list of potential administration appointees, thus far, looks like a list of recycled D. C. insiders and power brokers, many of them from the Clinton Administration.
How Ironic: Homosexuals who supported Obama must be doing a slow burn (or melt-down) as the realization hits them that many of those who voted for him in California also voted to ban gay marriages. Obama swept California and analysts report it was the huge turnout of black voters opposed to gay marriage who helped enact the ban. So while the gays and blacks in California were in the same Obama nest, they weren't birds of a feather.
Racist Poppycock: Some Oklahoma Democrats posting on their local community forum are of the opinion that the only way to explain Obama's loss of all 77 Oklahoma counties is racism, and some of them refer specifically to their fellow Democrats. Are these the same Democrats who did not rejoice when conservative Republican J. C. Watts, an African-American, won election to the Corporation Commission...and then to Congress in the 4th District? I note also that white liberal John Kerry got about the same number of Oklahoma presidential votes that Obama recorded. While racism may have been a small part of the equation in some parts of the state, the more educated and likely surmise is that Obama's liberal philosophy, support of gay marriage and record of opposition to the right to keep and bear arms played a more major part in his lack of support here just as those positions did in Kerry's case.
Blue Dog Firewall? Will the Blue Dog Democrats in Congress be the firewall against legislation that is certain to come from the Obama Administration? While liberals, joined by their conspirators in the mainstream media, are convinced we'll see a new era of unrestrained liberalism under Obama, they overlook the potential clout of a Blue Dog Democrat-conservative Republican alliance to block or alter legislation. They also overlook the constituencies represented by many new congressional Democrats who defeated Republicans in essentially conservative districts. Oklahoma's Dan Boren, who pointedly did not endorse Obama, is a Blue Dog Democrat whose voice may be heard as Obama's proposals come forth.
No Record: Tuesday's voting did not set a new turnout record. It fell about a thousand votes short of the 2004 presidential turnout despite all the hype (mostly from Democrats) about their voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, and the huge turnout of early voters.
All Smiles: State GOP Chairman Gary Jones, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee and House Speaker Chris Benge may be forgiven their broad smiles on election night, given the absolute whooping they combined to put on Oklahoma Democrats. It was, essentially, a clean sweep for the GOP as they won all the statewide races, added two members of the Senate and added a (stunning) four members of the House. Sent Packing: It's been a tough stretch for Aubrey McClendon of Chesapeake Energy Corp. First, the stock market crash forced him to sell off his bajillion dollars worth of company stock. Then his candidate to defeat Rep. Randy Terrill took a whooping from Terrill. Then his man on the Corporation Commission, Jim Roth, lost his election bid. Now, there's talk of a possible Chesapeake takeover.
Aw, Shucks: TMRO, to read what some readers have written, is aglow. "The Gold Standard for Oklahoma political news," one elected state official wrote on Wednesday. "You are our political north star," wrote a local official. And then there's this return-to-earth message from a local Democrat: "You're a Republican hack bastard."
Labels: Gadfly's Columns
posted by Mike McCarville @ 9:31 AM
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