My View
By Don Sorchych | November 12, 2008
• Election post-mortem
Arrrgggghhh!!!
Although not surprised by the outcome of the presidential election, I fear for this Republic. Liberal candidates, in past elections, like Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis were soundly defeated. Barack Hussein Obama is way left of those candidates, the most liberal member in the senate and a champion of socialist policies.
Has the country changed that much?
This was a complex election and will be the subject of continued dissection and book authorship.
Clearly elections can be bought and Obama raised, at last count, $660 million dollars. Two hundred million is untraceable and $60 million is from foreign sources.
Although there are murmurs federal officials are investigating, how far will the investigations go after inauguration?
That DNC Chairman Howard Dean hit a home run in organization and fund raising is without doubt. I mentioned in a previous editorial every time Obama was mentioned in a negative way I received carefully structured responses of almost identical length but in sum spoke to all the Democrat talking points. Many came from local cities and towns but from many eastern states as well.
The grass roots organization and use of Internet and text messages outpaced Republican efforts by a huge margin.
A very liberal Democrat friend told me a story about his son who is a recent college graduate and not yet employed. His son received a text message asking him to go to New Mexico and do volunteer work for the Democrat party. Before he could respond, he received another text message telling him the quota was filled, and to stand by.
A couple of days before the election, another text message told him to go to a location, pick up 50 “Vote for Obama” signs and place them. He got a friend and dutifully did as he was told.
Fund raising was done in a similar way, making effective use of Internet, text messaging and phones.
The Republican Party had better get modern and creative before the next election.
John McCain didn’t do a good job of staff selection and his choice to have a foot in both camps did not sell well with his base. Pre-Sarah Palin he had essentially lost his conservative base. Although she revitalized the conservative base, she was poorly used.
The genius staffer that decided to put Palin on television with Katie Couric before she had any grounding was devastating. If Sarah is a barracuda Couric is a rattlesnake, piranha and shark all wrapped in a cutesy façade.
McCain waited until too late to try to educate the public about how little they knew about Obama and tell them about his history of being close to really bad and corrupt people, from childhood to today. In fact, McCain had an obligation to warn voters, and he failed.
And of course, how much is it worth to have virtually all of the media rooting for Obama, while they undermined McCain and used every dirty trick in the book to destroy Palin and her family.
Maybe a billion dollars?
I wonder what McCain thinks of his crossing the aisle to visit Democrat Russ Feingold and co-author the Campaign Finance bill? Obama promised to use government funding, welshed, and had rights to unlimited fund raising. Boomerang, huh John? Not only did it damage our first amendment rights, seriously, it gave Obama the elbow room to beat your butt. It was deserved, but may have cost us our country.
As one caller to talk radio said, McCain should cross the aisle one more time and stay there.
For those of you who became unhinged because Sonoran News had the audacity to print articles and editorials about Obama’s birthplace, I ask one simple question. Why didn’t he just cough up the birth certificate? And while he was at it, his records in the Illinois senate, his school records and medical records should have been provided. Voters have a right to know, and sooner or later we will.
Yes, the election wasn’t fair, but neither is life. The Republicans had better make peace with Newt Gingrich, begin a new Contract with America and find a candidate with conservative credentials and broad appeal. Maybe that is Sarahcuda and maybe not. Clone Ronnie?
On the local scene it was a delight to see both Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andy Thomas keep their seats, despite serious efforts by the Arizona Republic and the Democrat attack machine.
Congressman John Shadegg prevailed in spite of huge campaign financing for his opponent that flowed into the state. Thanks John for reconsidering your “retirement,” fighting the good fight and winning.
Unfortunately, first term Congressman Democrat Harry Mitchell, Nancy Pelosi’s submissive, won in spite of being in a Republican District. Damn those RINOs!
Democrats swept the Corporation Commission, winning the three available seats while our and surprisingly, the Arizona Republic, Republican choices, lost.
Russell Pearce handily won a Senate seat, migrating from the house, where he was term limited. So there, you open border and love- the- illegal’s crowd.
The CCUSD School Board election promises more of the same, that is to say, “Whatever you want, Madam Superintendent.” David Schaefer was our choice, even though late in the campaign he pimped for the override. I would reconsider our choice if I had it to do it over again. The other two winners have been there and proved their incompetence, by bending over for the administration.
It would be nice if school board members raised hell when school officials, and they themselves, break election laws, but they don’t. There are still complaints limping along in the County Attorney’s office from last election and now the current one.
However, Karma caught up with CCUSD again, and their override was defeated by a 54 percent majority. It doesn’t pay to cheat, you so-called educators and fellow travelers!
Jim Lane is still winning in the Scottsdale mayoral election. We can hope we won’t have to put up with supercilious Mary Manross for much longer.
Some good, some bad, but as the Chinese have said, “May you live in interesting times.”