The View from the Middle
I don’t want to be hyperbolic, but last night there were at least three shots fired that were head around the world, or at least around the United States. Republican Glenn Youngkin actually won the Virginia race for governor despite being down by eight points in the polls back in August. He defeated Terry McAuliffe, who is the closest thing to an incumbent you can have in term limited Virginia. If that wasn’t enough, Virginia elected the first black woman to win a state-wide office in that state when they also voted in Republican Winsome Sears as Lieutenant Governor. And then, just to pile on, they elected Virginia’s first Latino Attorney General, Republican Jason Miyares.
The Second shot was fired in New Jersey where Republican Jack Ciattarelli is currently in a dead heat with Phil Murphy, the incumbent Democrat Governor. This is noteworthy because Ciattarelli was down by 26 points in the polls back in June and eight points down on the day before the election. That’s an amazing surge and comment on recent Democrat governance. The third shot was fired in Minneapolis where a proposal to eliminate the police department and replace it with a “Department of Public Safety” (whatever that is) was soundly defeated with strong support in the black community. A September survey in Minneapolis found that 75% of blacks did NOT want to reduce the amount of police in their neighborhoods.
Certainly, there are lessons to be learned from these shocking events, but my fear is that Democrats and the mainstream media are learning all the wrong lessons. I believe that the message being sent in Virginia, New Jersey and Minneapolis is that Americans are tired of the divisive, hateful rhetoric of personal destruction and its cancel culture cousin. Whether the racist, bigoted CRT (Critical Race Theory) is technically taught in Virginia is irrelevant as long as its tenants of “all whites are oppressors and all blacks are victims” are being rejected.
Another point being made is that people want Democrats and Republicans to work together to create compromise solutions that will not only maintain the Republic but enable our citizens to thrive and succeed. Joe Biden ran on the idea that he would unite the country, but since his inauguration he has completely ignored his “friends” on the other side of the aisle with countless executive orders, 51 vote bills in The Senate and totally partisan 51% votes in The House.
If you really think about it, there was a mandate delivered in 2020 and on November 2nd, 2021, and that was a mandate for compromise and cooperation. In 2020 there were 75 million votes placed for Donald Trump and his policies, and all of those 75 million votes were cast by American citizens who just think differently than Democrats. They aren’t stupid. They aren’t racists. They aren’t terrorists, and the sooner Democrats realize that, the sooner this country can come together and become the best it can be.
But on Wednesday morning, Joy Reid of MSNBC suggested that anyone concerned about “education” were just white racists who don’t want to teach history. Of course, she offered no numbers to prove or any evidence to support that statement. She’s going to have to add Latino’s to her list of racists, however, since Glenn Youngkin captured 54% of the Hispanic vote in Virginia. And since about 15% of blacks also voted for Youngkin she needs to add them to her personal basket of deplorables. Finally, Van Jones of CNN, compared Youngkin to a disease (the delta variant of Covid-19), and there certainly are no facts or evidence to support that.
So, while the lesson leaned should have been that we need to come together and respect each other and actually listen to each other, the mainstream media seems to have heard that they need to continue to ignore and insult anyone who disagrees with them and continue their practice of division, character assassination and intense hatred of half of their fellow American citizens.
I can only hope that the Democrat Party actually learns a different lesson. Maybe they should listen to the new Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Winsome Sears. In her victory speech she said, “I have won my race as Lieutenant Governor and I’m not going to be representing only Republicans. No. I’m representing Republicans, Libertarians, Green Party, Reform Party, Democrats, everybody. We’ve got to learn to live together and get along so that we can have peace.” Wise words from a wise woman.
People committed to a political party always find any election in which their team wins a ratification of whatever they thought before. The Virginia governorship has gone to the party opposite of the President's party in 11 of the last 12 elections though, so it probably has more to do with local issues than anything.
ReplyDeleteI do find it odd that you're always lecturing the Democrats on what lessons they should learn after any election. Yet Republicans went from having control of the Presidency, House and Senate in 2016 to having control of none 4 years later and you found no reasons the Republicans should learn anything but just that there were a bunch of "irregularities" in the voting. Might want to cogitate on that.
I find the election of Youngkin interesting for a different reason. Trump spoke to the allegedly "forgotten" man, the little guy, the worker, the blue collar guy who has been left behind in a modern economy. The GOP, especially in Arkansas, has been trying to rebrand itself the "workers party" to appeal to this new base. Even you, Kevin, have ranted against the advantages of the rich in our tax code, and the evils of big business (at least when they're social media businesses).
Yet Youngkin is a classic big business Republican. Made his fortune with the Carlyle Group, a huge PE fund that has followed the classic PE model in several cases. Buy companies, load them with debt to extract cash, then bankrupt them and leave the workers scrambling. One of their banks was a recipient of 2010 bailout funds.
It makes me wonder how long the core Trump voters will stay in the fold when/if the GOP turns back to its embrace of Wall Street, insurance companies, etc. Also makes me wonder if the Dems have the courage to reject those same sources of cash.
Watching the GOP figure out what it believes in over the next 2-3 years will be the most intriguing part of American politics. And maybe it lands on nothing more than staying in power and saying whatever it takes to do that.
Can you be a major party in this country with no fixed principles? I hope not for our country, but it's looking increasingly possible.
Matt, First of all, I have never even written about voting "irregularities" although, if you think they don't exist, you are being an ostrich on that story. Nevada's audit has already identified many and so will Georgia, Pennsylvania and Illinois (Chicago) if they ever do an audit.
DeleteAlso, you are always so negative and always in one direction. Remember Obama's "shellacking in 2010, and he went from all to zero control in eight years. Then he lost it all in 2016 including the Presidency in the biggest political upset since Truman-Dewey. And now the Democrats are acting like they have a mandate, but they don't. It's a 50-50 Senate and only a three vote cushion in the House. If there is a mandate for anything, it is a mandate for cooperation.
Also, in Virginia the Dems pulled out all the stops and sent in Obama, Biden, Harris, Abrams and McAuliffe still lost. Youngkin never brought in Trump but YOU keep bringing him up and so did Biden and McAuliffe. If all you can do is character assassination, why don't you check out Democrats. Biden has been in government virtually all of his working life and has some real creepy sexual issues and has flip-flopped throughout his career and you can say the same for Harris and on and on.
Defend the following:
-McAuliffe saying parents shouldn't be telling schools what to teach.
-The crisis of illegal entries on our southern border.
-The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
-The current situation in Afghanistan.
-The new higher threat of a terrorist attack here because of that withdrawal
-Shutting down the Keystone pipeline while green lighting Nord Stream 2.
-Paying people who entered the country illegally $450,000 per person. or
-Biden either lying about it or not knowing about (not sure what's worse).
-Ignoring natural immunity in the country's Covid containment plan.
-Ramming the biggest spending bill in our country's history that hasn't been read or scored by the CBO W/O any Republican support.
-The divisive, hate-filled rhetoric by Biden against white people and Republicans (all American citizens) after running on a "Unity" platform.
-Labor participation rate at 61.6%, the lowest rate since 1977.
-Vax mandates that are destroying the lives our heroes from just a year ago.
-Inflation crisis, crime crisis, China relations, Iran relations, the French submarine screwup (that Biden admitted to and apologized for)
There are more, but I'm tired of typing, so just defend these.
"you are being an ostrich on that story."
DeleteOh they exist. In fact a number of Republicans have been convicted for them. But like CRT, you're talking about such an infinitesimal percentage that it's laughable. But the GOP base is so, shall we say, susceptible to conspiracy theories that people raise hundreds of millions off of blowing up those irregularities. I believe Trump raised what, $200M for the legal challenges and spend maybe 10% of that? Where'd the rest of the money go? Don't you worry your pretty little head about that!
"Remember Obama's "shellacking in 2010, and he went from all to zero control in eight years."
Of course I remember that. And Democrats did much soul searching over that. Just like in 2012 when Obama won the GOP leadership worked on a whole new blueprint for their policies going forward. Then 2016 came and Trump blew it all up because he knew what the party really craved wasn't policy but celebrity.
The crazy thing is then he lost it all in the span of four years, and the party's response hasn't been soul searching but doubling down! Unfortunately none of the present contenders has the celebrity status.
"And now the Democrats are acting like they have a mandate, but they don't."
The classic line of every party out of power. When my team has power = mandate. When your team does = no mandate. C'mon man.
As far as flip-flopping, you're a two time Trump voter. Let's not pretend like consistency on the issues matters to you.
As for your requests for defenses, sure I'll play. I would have you do the same, but it wouldn't be fair to you.
- McAuliffe is right. Parents don't decide. Elected school boards do and the state education departments. You already agreed with me on this.
- Illegal immigration rises when the economy is booming. As I understand GOP logic, when the economy is booming it's all attributable to the President. So we have the awesome Biden economy and a very tight labor market here. We have an explosion of illegal entry because, as you and I agree, our existing immigration system doesn't work to meet our labor needs. The Republicans don't want to change our existing system.
- The withdrawal from Afghanistan wasn't disastrous. Fewer Americans died in it than did in the Berlin airlift, which was longer and didn't involve the removal of people from half a world away. Getting out of Afghanistan was a hugely popular decision. Instead of supporting America in this decision politics dictates that half the country find something to complain about for narrow partisan advantage. Hence your statement.
- The current situation in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been a mess for 40 years. It remains a mess and after trillions of US dollars and thousands of lives and two decades, that hasn't changed. What do you want us to do?
Delete-The new higher threat of a terrorist attack here because of that withdrawal. This is something you just made up which is wholly unquantifiable. And it's something you obviously don't care about because a complete withdrawal from not only Afghanistan but also Syria, and possibly Iraq was a Trump plan too and you never said boo about. Again, criticizing the President simply for narrow partisan advantage.
-Shutting down the Keystone pipeline while green lighting Nord Stream 2. We don't green light Nord Stream 2 in sovereign countries in Europe. Did you think we do? I'm really not sure what your issue here is.
-Paying people who entered the country illegally $450,000 per person. or Biden either lying about it or not knowing about (not sure what's worse). This hasn't happened, but it would also not be unusual if we did. But you believe it has, which is a testament to your susceptibility to partisan marketing.
However, even if it did, we've paid for people we've wrongly harmed all over the world, including Afghanistan and Iraq during the Trump Administration, . Surely you've heard about that? https://www.lawfareblog.com/examination-us-military-payments-civilians-harmed-during-conflict-afghanistan-and-iraq
"-Ignoring natural immunity in the country's Covid containment plan." I don't know what this means. There is no nationwide COVID containment plan. There's barely a statewide one.
-"Ramming the biggest spending bill in our country's history that hasn't been read or scored by the CBO W/O any Republican support." Even at the highest estimate of the BBB plan, it's approximately half what we'll spend on the Pentagon over the same period. And why are you acting like the CBO scoring matters? You didn't care when the GOP passed the deficit exploding tax cut. There is no bill that will get GOP support. It is political suicide right now for a Republican to do something in the best interest of the country if it involves Democrats in any way. That's a fact of Republican politics, so they cannot and will not support any bill of any size or merit beyond ceremonial stuff. I don't know how something that hasn't been passed can be considered to have been "rammed through."
-The divisive, hate-filled rhetoric by Biden against white people. You'll have to give me an actual Biden quote. Your statement reads like an RNC email blast cut and paste.
"-Labor participation rate at 61.6%, the lowest rate since 1977." It was actually 61.5% while Trump was still President. But interesting. With jobs open all over the country, why do you think the labor participation rate is so low? And why do you attribute that to partisan politics?
-Vax mandates that are destroying the lives our heroes from just a year ago. The only "mandate" Biden has applied is an OSHA regulation limited to certain large companies. Our "heroes" from a year ago? Huh? Again, reads like a cut and paste from an RNC email blast.
- "-Inflation crisis," - You're too old to call 5% inflation a "crisis." You were alive during the 70s and early 80s. Be serious. Yes inflation is rising, which is a multifactoral issue related to a world economy and upward pressure on wages which in part is the result of Republican immigration stalemates.
We'll talk all these at lunch, but you must be right. Everything is great in America and the Biden Admin. has performed splendidly. I guess that's why Joe's approval rating is 38% and Kamala Harris' is 28%.
DeleteTHE BERLIN AIRLIFT? You want to compare the Afghanistan withdrawal to the Berlin Airlift? Don't make me laugh. The Berlin Airlift (1948-49) lasted for over a year and encompassed over 300,000 flights at a time when hostilities still ran high between Germany and the US. 31 Americans died and most of them died due to plane crashes and mishaps. Come on Matt. Admit it. The Afghanistan withdrawal was a catastrophe. We gave up Bagram and the city of Kabul when we didn't have to and that, among other poor choices, led to more total deaths (Afghans and Americans) than died during the Berlin Airlift that went on for a year. I'm not arguing whether we should have gotten out of Afghanistan, just HOW.
DeleteYeah the Berlin Airlift. Do you know how many Americans died during that? We weren't even moving people!! We were literally moving goods a few hundred miles and not even landing in hostile territory. And still 31 Americans died!
DeleteIf the Afghanistan withdrawal is a "catastrophe" then you've moved the bar so low in the name of partisanship that there will be precious few military operations that don't qualify.
And your "solution" was for us to dump a few thousand more troops in which somehow you believe would not have resulted in more American deaths.
This is an example of the partisan marketing I'm talking about, by the way. We removed thousands of people from half a world away from a nation state that had been failing for decades and has been in a civil war for decades as well as located in a hotbed of terrorism. This country is nowhere near a friendly country, and every flight originated from thousands of miles away and returned thousands of miles away.
DeleteWe tragically lost a dozen American lives to people willing to die themselves to hurt Americans.
In the history of the military, where lives are routinely lost not only due to operational error but even mechanical mistakes or on the ground human error, that's still a pretty amazing feat of logistics and a low casualty count given the nature of the undertaking. If you know history and I know you do, then you know that's true.
But you have to label it a "catastrophe" for partisan reasons. You have to hate Joe Biden. You throw up alternate scenarios that should have been done that this or that person says. And those get to be better because they weren't used, even though they would have their own risks, their own challenges, and their own weak points. Getting to Bagram down an open stretch of highway, or putting even more troops on the ground to "secure" a city of millions where the people speak a different language than nearly all our troops. Those things have their own risks of death.
The reason I say your criticism is purely partisan is because you can't even acknowledge ANY success in this. Nor have you once asked what the plan of the team you support was to get them all out back in May, or even in January when Trump was still President and wanted them out.
Step away from this stuff. We will all be better for it. If you're truly posting a view from the middle, let's see some comparisons to similar military actions. Let's hear what went right and what went wrong. Let's see you rate it without saying "Joe Biden" and just look at it analytically.
It's easy to say "they should have kept Bagram" but what does that mean? In terms of men, material? How would we get evacuees there? What are the pros? What are the cons?
That would be "from the middle."
- "crime crisis," - What does this mean? It seems like you're just taking words and putting "crisis" after them and attributing them to the President. It works if you're trying to dupe people out of their money, as Trump showed, but thinking people need to do better.
ReplyDelete"China relations, Iran relations," - Again, I have no idea what this means. You state no metric for "success" in these things, so you can constantly say they're bad and don't have to grapple with the fact they might have also been bad when your team was in power. Step away from this kind of nonthinking. It's simplistic partisanship and beneath you. Do you think maybe Biden should write "love letters" to the Shah and tell the US press that they fell in love? Or maybe he should come out and say he doesn't trust US intelligence and thinks China is led by good guys after all? Be serious.
- "the French submarine screwup (that Biden admitted to and apologized for)" - I have to chuckle about this one. You are far too deep in Newsmax, Gateway Pundit, etc. if you think this is some damning indictment. Especially as a Trump fan when you let all kinds of foreign policy mistakes go by without comment or even tried to defend them.
By the way, I did get a kick out of you wanting so bad to trash the economy under Biden that the best you could come up with was labor force participation rate numbers that are actually slightly higher than under Trump. I don't think Presidents have near the control over the economy you do, but at least be consistent in what you praise/condemn.
ReplyDeleteDon't be silly. Trump's participation rates were 63% consistently until we voluntarily shut down our economy. Biden's has been during the re-opening of the economy which should have exploded that number. YOU be consistent.
DeleteI find it humorous how hard BOTH parties' adherents work to find economic numbers that favor them. I remember when unemployment was really low during Bush's term, Republicans crowed about it. Then when it started going low during Obama's term, they started talking about this or that number OTHER than unemployment.
DeleteDems do it too.
It's just a symptom of the silly game where we have to attribute the ups and downs of everything, including a worldwide economy, to the President as if he's the Wizard of
I did a review of the titles of the blog posts. I ask, "From the Middle" of what? The Middle of the Fox Primetime? Can any modern conservative say they are against deficit spending and not be struck with lightning. What they actually believe is unless spending is for the military then all spending is misguided and budget deficits are only wrong when there is a Democratic president. Name me two presidents that signed a spending bill that included budget deficit payments. Here you go, Clinton and Biden. How can someone be "From the Middle" and not have one single blog that supports a left leaning point of view? I just don't get it. Either you are hoping to mislead people or you deny the last two elections were not popular vote victories by the Democrats. A third option, maybe the belief is any views not exposed by the Fox News leaning side of the country really do not count? How many millions of votes do the Democrats have to win by before the views of from the middle every once in a while side with the side with the most votes? The title of my view is "From Center of the the side that Does not Count", apparently. One last point, are we really "thinking" if all our views only line up with one party every single time? The answer is obvious, what ever "From the Middle" says is the correct opinion is all the thinking that needs to be done on my part, apparently. If you need to find something to support a more balanced point of view here is some factual information that might help, but I suspect "From the Middle" will somehow say the facts are misleading since they don't support the far right narrative. https://www.thebalance.com/job-creation-by-president-by-number-and-percent-3863218 Unlike in the Russia, in the Ukraine and the United States we are blessed with freedom of speech, I hope this continues after the next elections.
ReplyDelete