Frank Rich: The Night They Drove the Tea Partiers Down

icon gravatar.comwww.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/opinion/08rich.html
sent by RicKelis since 13 days 19 hours 40 minutes, published about 13 days 11 hours 47 minutes
FOR all cable news’s efforts to inflate Election 2009, ratings at MSNBC and CNN were flat Tuesday night -- but not at Fox News. A “tidal wave” was on its way, said Sean Hannity, and the right would soon “take back the Republican Party.” Alas, the Dewey-beats-Truman reveries died shortly after midnight, when even Fox had to concede that the Democrat, Bill Owens, had triumphed. [But] the Democratic victory in New York’s 23rd is a mixed blessing: it increases the odds that the Republicans will not do Democrats the great favor of committing suicide between now and the next Election Day. Should the G.O.P. avoid self-destruction by containing this [right wing tea bag] fringe, then the president and his party will have to confront their real problem: their identification with the titans who greased the skids for the economic meltdown. The Obama administration does not seem to understand that the rage [against Wall Street], left unaddressed, could consume it. A year from now the public will register its verdict in any event. Meanwhile, both parties have their own delusions, not the least of which is the Republicans’ conviction that Tuesday was a referendum on what Obama has done so far. If anything, it was a judgment on just how much he has not.
tags: rich, rw crazies, repugs, ny 23 win, obama
4 commentscategory: Elections karma: 150

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  1. #1    This potential Repug suicide angle explains why the Obama administration made such a big deal out of Fox's non-news propaganda. Fox will not let up while they are getting ratings -- they don't care if the Repugs suffer as a result. It's the old "show me the money" rule. And speaking about that, Rich's hand-wringing about the Wall Street scum reveals that he is looking at this from a checker player's viewpoint; he should get into the right game and view it as chess --that's hard to do, but he appears bright enough to handle it -- then again, that might not draw the same amount of readers needed to show the NYT the MONEY.
    written by RicKelis since 13 days 19 hours 1 minuteRicKelis
  2. #2    Rich has a couple good points here. We shouldn't bank on the GOP self-destruction, even if it looks irreversible, don't get cocky.
    And he's probably correct that Corzine's loss and Bloomberg's squeaker are symptoms of antipathy toward fat cats, and that the Obama administration has to shift it's focus from Wall Street to working people and getting more people working. The longer Obama's team are seen as Goldman's annex, the less, um, enthusiastic, non-fat cat voters will be.
    I'd say he has about six months to pull up employment numbers dramaticaly if he wants to make the window for the MidTerms.
    And even I am falling into this trap, Dammmit, don't keep focusing on the next election, get some good work done and the elections will go right. 24/7/365 campaigning distorts the governance.
    written by CwV since 13 days 15 hours 2 minutesCwV
  3. #3    Don't get me wrong -- I'm obviously a fan of Rich's or at least think that his column is important for BuzzFlashers to see -- that's why I post it every week. But there's a strategy unfolding here that some people cannot see at all -- yet folks like Frank do see it and choose not to reveal it too soon. But then again, maybe that's part of the strategy;)
    written by RicKelis since 13 days 9 hours 49 minutesRicKelis
  4. #4    As for fat cats, by definition these critters have abandoned self-control just as some of our phyically obese members of the population. They shut off their sense of conscience, disregard the innate guidelines of ethical and moral codes: do unto others as you would have them do unto you, avoid the seven deadly sins -- which prominently includes GREED and avarice. In these days, they have succumbed to that deadly sin and are, as a result, spiritually dead. We really have a culture of death here in America (and most of the "civilized' world).
    written by RicKelis since 13 days 9 hours 22 minutesRicKelis
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