Midterms: Palin, tea party and conservatives gamble all for the heart & soul of America

Unusual situations make for strange bedfellows

Thanks to a very underestimated Palin, along with Sen. DeMint and some influential talk radio hosts, some Americans finally have a choice in the midterms between something other than Dem and Dem-lite. Of the 19 candidates for Congress or Governor endorsed by Palin, 11 won, 8 lost. Enough so that, even after over a year and a half of mocking Sarah Palin as a passing fad, Obama mouthpiece, Robert Gibbs, had to concede that Palin’s successes in the primary might just have proven that Sarah is the “most formidable force in the GOP.

With the die cast, it cannot be ignored that the stakes are huge… indeed, we are all gambling for the very heart and soul of our nation, our economy, and our founding principles. And on the heels of what should have been immediately embraced by the GOP, the conservatives, Palin and tea partiers instead found themselves at odds with the establishment Republicans.

Within days of their respective losses, three career Republican “spoilers” emerged… Charlie Crist in Florida decided to run as an Independent, disgruntled with the state’s voters overwhelmingly choosing Marco Rubio. Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski mounts a write-in campaign against Palin endorsed attorney, Joe Miller. And we all remember from there is historically little love lost between Palin and the Murkowski families.

Mike Castle’s DE loss to Palin/tea party favorite, Christine O’Donnell not only resulted in a consolation call to Castle from the POTUS himself, but O’Donnell found herself financially ostracized by the GOP in the hours following when the NRSC flatly refused to fund her campaign. On the heels of constituent criticism, some of the establishment GOP leaders bucked the party war chest decision, and the NRSC backed down within 24 hours, agreeing to send the maximum $42K allowable.

But when Bill Maher hit the airwaves with 1998 “Politically Incorrect” clips of O’Donnell admitting to “dabbling” and associations with witchcraft, criticism arises from conservative blog, Power Line… with the headline that O’Donnell’s career should “RIP”… Michelle Malkin countered, and again the conservative camps found themselves at odds with normal platform allies.

The establishment GOP media didn’t rise above the fray either, with conservative pundit staples like Charles Krauthammer, calling the Palin/DeMint endorsement of O’Donnell “disruptive”. Karl “the architect” Rover found himself swimming in circles – first trashing O’Donnell on Hannity… only to throw his considerable weight of support behind her a day later. If the reversals weren’t dizzying enough, the Sunday talking head circuit found Rove lukewarm again, chastising O’Donnell for not “explaining the witchcraft” charges to voters after canceling her scheduled appearances to attend local DE events instead.

In case we fiscal conservatives haven’t figured it out yet, our electoral hopes do not lie in official GOP support, but in allying ourselves with others…. Conservatives, Independents and Reagan Democrats alike… to wage war with not only the Democrats, but with the Republican Party as well. Unusual political situations find us making strange bedfellows indeed.

Winning the primaries gave fiscally astute voters a shot of adrenaline… but now the real test looms large. Can the conservative/tea party Palin endorsees win in November’s general election?

I sure hope so… because the alternative is unthinkable. Dems need to be removed from control of the nation’s purse strings, and none of us needs lectures from the GOP that RINOs are the best the Republicans can offer for our future. Death by a thousand cuts is not more appealing than severing the vein. Even then, we still may face unintended fallout.

But if we’ve learned anything in a short week, it’s that party unity is no guarantee, and it’s a bit early to kick up our heels and hang a “Mission Accomplished” sign on the bow. If the Palin/DeMint endorsed candidates fail to hit our expectations, we can expect to be subjected to serious finger wagging by the GOP, citing the Buckley Rule… support the “most electable” candidate.

Yet it was decades of the Buckley Rule that lead to our “no choice” in candidates positions…

… until this midterm election, and an outright rebellion by an angry nation, that is.

Yes… we rejoice that we now genuinely have a choice between divergent visions for this nation’s future. But if we lose with those candidates, we not only suffer thru GOP smug righteousness, and possible Dem majority in either or both chambers, but Palin and DeMint’s stars could fall as well. Both political leaders have sided with the fiscally conservative constituents and bucked the Party. While DeMint is entrenched in his seat, Palin’s future street cred may suffer a serious backlash for 2012.

There is no doubt that November will be a bellwether moment… will this nation revert to it’s founding principles of less government intrusion? Or will we find that decades of William Ayer’s “social justice” curriculum in our public schools has taken root, and the US citizenry indeed wishes to march towards a more socialist structure?

It’s going to be a nail biting election season…

One thing in our favor… the typical lib/prog approach to any kind of war – military or political – generally results in them telegraphing their strategic plans boldly thru the media. And that strategy simply comes down to this…. Alinksy Rides Again.

We already know that the White House coordinated the strategy back in early August, sending the word out to ignore controversial legislative accomplishments this campaign season, and to focus on promises about the economy.

But more specifically, their battle about the economy was not to be based in an agenda of ideas, but founded on hyping the fear of Republican control.

In an effort coordinated with the White House, congressional leaders are urging Democrats to focus less on bragging about what they have done — a landmark healthcare law, a sweeping overhaul of Wall Street regulation and other far-reaching policy changes — and more on efforts to fix the economy and on the perils of Republican control of Congress.

Obama was one of the first to jump on the “fear the GOP – divide and conquer” campaign strategy. He effectively dodged the real issues and his lackluster performance a day later in a fundraising speech in Dallas Aug 10th.

The Democratic strategy is to make the Nov. 2 elections a choice between competing visions, rather than a referendum on Obama administration policies and Democratic leadership. On one side, the Democrats argue, is a mainstream party pursuing forward-thinking policies to benefit the middle class; on the other are extremist Republicans pushing a return to the unpopular policies of the previous administration.

“The question we’re going to have in this election is whether we’re going to continue down a path of creating greater opportunity, making that opportunity available to all people — are we going to become more competitive in this 21st-century economy — or are we going to go backwards to the exact same policies that got us into this mess in the first place?” Obama said Monday during a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee at a private Dallas residence.

“And if you don’t think that’s what the choice is, you haven’t been paying attention to what the other side is offering for November,” Obama continued. “What they’re counting on in this election is amnesia. They’re counting on you not remembering the disastrous consequences of economic policies that, by the way, had caused problems for working-class families, for middle-class families, before the recession hit, before the crisis hit.”

Alinsky #13 rides again…. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Obama has remained true to the campaign strategy, continually portraying “the other side” as the nation’s domestic axis of evil.

Democrats are focusing on labeling the conservatives and tea partiers are extremist, inept, bigoted and dangerous for the country. They will be happy to seize upon any “proof” they can muster to support their claims. Nay… not only happy, we can expect to be further baited to portray ourselves as such in the run up to the elections by pushing the hot buttons of conservatives on the defense.

And to do this, they will endeavor to keep the conservatives away from the issues with Alinsky Rules for Radicals, #5:

“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.”

Beware the bait… it will be laid out often, and cleverly disguised. Since we know, full well, there is a political minefield before us, we need to pick our paths thru the field carefully.

The more we become distracted, taking their bait, the happier the Democrats and Obama are. Therein, IMHO, is where our greatest dangers lie. If we become trapped in endless bickering, and constantly defending ourselves over the sundry issues now dividing conservatives – from Islam and racism to birther theories and assaulting “da won” over every movement and word… no matter how inconsequential – we lose momentum on issues where we clearly hold a formidable lead. It matters not how much truth there is to any of the controversies I mention, because all have the potential to become campaign fodder – designed and carefully spun to cast conservatives as heartless bigots, suffering from severe ODS, with a penchant for name calling and conspiracy theories.

The point is, Obama and the Democrats want nothing more than for the headlines and discussions to be about anything *but* the economy and our out of control debt. Without a strong economy, we lose our power in the world as the coveted market place, and our ability to maintain our superior military power… thereby forfeiting our national security. We do not strive to be like Euro-nations, dependent upon a future non-existent America for protection.

Rather, I believe that with every charge and distraction leveled by Obama, the Democrats, and the GOP itself, the response should be to return to conversation *immediately* to the economy and fiscal security of this nation – without rising to their challenge. No, Christine O’Donnell does *not* need to explain her witchcraft past, no more than Obama felt the need to explain his cocaine/marijuana use of the past, or his socialist/Marxist associations. O’Donnell needs to do exactly what she did – stay at home with her constituents, and pound home the need for fiscal discipline. She needs to focus on those who will bestow upon her the power to help stop the socialist avalanche.

Charlie Crist, Lisa Murkowski and other career “spoilers” need to know there are repercussions for putting their personal careers and power over the will of the voters. Conservatives and tea partiers need to entice their supporters into the fold, stripping the spoilers of any potential of sabotage. These mainstream GOPers want nothing more than to taunt the typical schoolyard chant… “na naa nanaaaaa naaaaaaaa” INRE the Buckley rule. We need to make sure they have no chance of doing that.

In short, it’s time to rally the diverse troops. While the conservatives and tea party members remain unquestionably united, it’s long overdue to approach RINOs and Reagan Democrats for support on the fiscal principles we share. There remain many issues upon which we are far apart, but those need to be deliberately tabled, and a combined force created that is built upon our common ground of economic recovery. Just as various factions of the global Islamic jihad movement temporarily unite to fight a common enemy, we need to do the same.

Yes, this election is truly one of the most important in our nation’s existence. I certainly hope that the voters will not disappoint with their choices. If we, as a nation, win, we’ll wake up on Nov 3rd, and found that we’ve put both major political parties in a “time out” corner. Better late than never.