The Natives Are Restless
It’s tempting to leave analyses of Tuesday’s elections to the dueling pontificators except that everyone palavering on the cable channels are shills. My only constituents are Americans striving to get America back on track.
First Pennsylvania. It’s a very interesting state – actually one of the four commonwealths in the our country – with liberal areas and conservative, white collar and blue, fundamentalist whackos and thoughtful, pragmatic intellectuals. Arlen Specter – 80 years old, cancer survivor – was running to keep his Senate seat which he’d first won as a Republican in 1980. He was moderate at times, hurting Robert Bork’s nomination for the Supreme Court, but then undermined the testimony of Anita Hill against Clarence Thomas. Last year, he had changed parties because he was going to be clobbered by the right wing of the GOP.
However, as a Democrat he was challenged by a former admiral and now Congressman named Joe Sestak, and Specter drew active support from the Obama team, many of his Dem Senate colleagues, and the popular term-limited governor Ed Rendell. (Shades of Lieberman in ‘06.) It wasn’t enough. Sestak won by a comfortable margin.
In Kentucky, the GOP machine – led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – put up Trey Grayson, the secretary of state, thinking he would be a shoo-in to replace the stunningly incompetent former major league pitcher Jim Bunning. But Rand Paul, son of Libertarian Ron, got into the race and simply tarred the bosses’ choice pulling almost 60% of the vote.
In Arkansas, incumbent Blanche Lincoln pulled out all the stops to stop a challenge by the lieutenant governor. Bill Halter came at the conservative pro-oil anti-health care Lincoln from the left and kept her under 50%, forcing a run-off.
This wasn’t a teabagger victory, no matter what the blowhards insist. It was outrage at the incompetents who put party before nation, who are responsible for where we are, and for the failure to fix what’s broken. It’s a wake-up call for November.
©2010 SetonnoteS
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