Osler's Razor

He hasn't gotten around to responding to my challenge yet, but I suspect that IPLG will agree with George Will's column of this morning-- I know that I do.
 

OK, but I think I should reveal my biases. I worked on Capitol Hill for five years, four with John McCain and have been very active in local and state Republican politics in Virginia over the past several years. I've sat out of the statewide races for the last couple of years due to personal and professional reasons, but also because the very socially conservative candidates we nominated were not my cup of tea. And I am proud to note that I sat out 1994 when the Virginia GOP nominated Oliver North for the Senate seat that George Allen has now apparently lost.

I worked hard on the McCain 2000 campaign and as a result have a very low opinion of George Bush. I thought then and think now that his biggest fault is arrogance. He is most definitely NOT stupid, but I do believe he's cocksure, stubborn and not willing to admit mistakes or to change course.

One note -- the recount in Virginia will go quickly and efficiently and unless someone finds fraud, there will be no litigation. What the national commentators are not mentioning is the fact that just last year Virginia had an election for Statewide officials and the race for Attorney General was too close to call. After a fair recount, the Republican was declared the victor by a few hundred votes. Everyone accepted that and went home. No lawsuits.

I should also add that I am in Arizona for a conference and really should be concentrating on my job....

Anyhow, yep, I think George Will nailed it. The country voted against the GOP and its excesses, rather than for the Democrats. My own state, Virginia, demonstrates that phenomenon quite well. Voters were tired of Bush and GOP Congress and When Geo. Allen started to give them reasons to vote against him, they did.

Same deal in Ohio... The Republicans really screwed up in that state, there was lots of anger against the Party and Dewine, while a good man, was not exactly inspiring or dynamic enough to overcome the anger.

The next few weeks will be the most crucial part of Pelosi's Speakership. She will be under enormous pressure for her "base" to enact some big legislation on issues that so-called "liberal" groups really care about, especially the War. But she does not have the votes to make sweeping changes. Many of the current Democrats in Congress DO "support the war," whatever that means, as do some of the new Democrats. And as Will pointed out, many also support gun rights and oppose abortion. Pushing hot button issues like that right off the bat was what got Clinton in trouble. We'll see if she's smarter.

In 1981 when Reagan got elected and the Senate flipped to the GOP, they didn't "get around" to introducing legislation on abortion or school prayer for almost two years, well after he got through the economic and foreign policy changes he wanted. And predictably, the social issue stuff got no where. The point is he and his Senate Allies did not waste political capital on legislation that would not pass.

As for Rumsfeld's resignation, this fits in with my "arrogant" comment at the top. He should have been shown the door in August... if not earlier. Betcha the GOP would still have at least one House if that had happened.
 

Hey! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Excellent analysis, Arizona Ip Guy.
 

Even as a big fan of President Bush, I have to agree with IPLG's statements regarding the President. His recent actions have caused me to question my respect. The President is not the man I came to respect as Texas Governor.

And sadly, because of the deep discontent with Republicans and President Bush that ended up sweeping into local races, some fine Dallas judges and what would have been a strong and capable Dallas District Attorney were voted down simply because of the (R) next to their names.

Forever an optimist, though, I have high hopes for what is to come out of the present government and those that serve us in that government.
 

Your worst nightmare has come true. Let us roll out our agenda - check out the Democrat's manifesto at:

http://www.rightwasright.us/
 

I really appreciate balanced government. I can sleep easy at night knowing that Republican and Democrat extremists will not be able to get their agendas through. It's about time.
 

I've worked in DC (briefly), and I've been heavily involved with the last two election cycles. It was weird to sit this one out, but law school called. And work. And sleep. (Sleep didn't get a call back).

I've worked for the RNC, but only indirectly; I've really worked for individual candidates, not for the RNC as a whole, because I'm kind of fed up with the RNC. I did something I only do rarely this election; I voted for a bunch of independents, because they were the only ones I could stomach. I knew that was "throwing my vote away," and I knew that was taking away from the candidates I hated the least (saying I "liked" any of them would be a stretch) would probably contribute to someone I hated more getting elected. My professors used to scream and flail about third party voters in my u-grad gov't courses, but in this case, I couldn't vote for a lot of the RNC candidates without a bad taste in my mouth.

I think that voting against rather than voting for is a bad idea generally, but I can see how it's happened. The entire situation has been a disappointed mess. Example of how frustrated I am with the whole thing: the RNC has over the last few years sent me a couple pictures of George W., as one of the "party faithful" and "grassroots leaders" (whatever). I used to have those hanging in my apartment, next to the pictures of me with some people I was privileged to meet in WDC when I worked there.

The pictures of George W. have been taken down and put in a drawer, although the pictures of the others are still up. And I think a lot of that is the essence of successful politics; I would go around the world for the people I worked for individually (I cried when I saw that Bob Beauprez didn't get the governor's seat of CO), but the RNC in general is a thing that makes me go....eh. And I think that was a crucial problems for the Republicans this election; there weren't enough candidates that people liked individually to motivate them to vote for those candidates.

And as a side note, I was incredibly relieved when Allen was defeated in VA. I've heard his name floated for '08, and that made me gag. After this, he probably won't be able to take the nomination then. Whew!
 

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/

This is genius.