November 11, 2006
As the experts sift through the rubble of the 2006 mid-term elections they come to some bold pronouncements as to why the Republicans lost. Looking at exit polling they cite Iraq as the issue yet in the two head-to-head races where the war was the only issue, the anti-war candidates lost. The Lieberman-Lamont contest in Connecticut was a race, pure and simple, over the war in Iraq . Lamont had the advantage of a Republican flanking Lieberman to the right and still lost by 10 points. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who lost her legs after her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, ran exclusively on the anti-war platform. She was defeated.
So, what brought the Republicans down? The pundits have misinterpreted the anger. Those upset with how the war in Iraq is being prosecuted are actually split over which party is best capable of winning. The anti-Bush sentiment is being interpreted as a lurch toward the left. Nancy Pelosi is already preparing for easy illegal immigration reform that will most assuredly include a massive amnesty program for the millions of illegals who have broken our laws to get here. President Bush will gleefully sign the legislation and that act will forever stain his presidency.
After opening our borders, Nancy & Friends will set about the task of dismantling the Bush tax cuts. Believing that you actually care that some rich folks get a bigger chunk of change back than you, the Democrats will prey on a class warfare issue that doesn't exist. Most people only look at their own tax returns. When they got a tax cut they didn't care if Donald Trump got a bigger one. When they have to write a check to the government once the Democrats take control, that's all they'll remember.
The Democrats will then set about the task of dismantling our anti-terrorism defense. The Patriot Act will be gutted, criminal profiling will be outlawed, funding for the war on terror will be curtailed. As Nancy Pelosi so naively told Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes , if we leave Iraq , the terrorists will leave Iraq .
Now, back to these so-called experts. The exit polling showed that the Hispanic vote was up 11 percent over 1994. That certainly had an effect on the election. But what had the most impact on the election was something the exit polls will never tell you. Republicans stayed home in droves. You can exit poll all you want but you'll never get the proper results when people aren't there to be polled. While voter turnout in California was around 44 percent, Republican turnout was 10 points less. I suspect that was duplicated all across the country. These Republicans stayed home not because they wanted a lurch to the left but because they felt the Republicans they elected had already lurched to the left, caving into illegal alien interests and not getting a handle on spending.
Something else that needs to be noted: Of the Republican incumbents who were defeated on November 7, they were defeated by a cumulative number of just over 250,000 votes. That's out of some 121 million votes. Hardly a mandate. In 1994, the voters were, by and large, running to the Republicans and their Contract with America . This time they're running away from the Republicans but they aren't running to the Democrats. That's a very important distinction as Nancy & Friends set up shop. The misreading of these election results by the Democrats and the rip-and-read reporters could cost the Dems the White House in '08. And that's exactly what the Republicans are hoping for.