George Allen’s only meaningful opponent is Tim Kaine
By Ken Falkenstein | Monday, June 27th, 2011 | Politics
George Allen
Politico recently ran an op-ed by George Allen in which Allen refers to Kaine as “my opponent in the Virginia Senate race.” One of my fellow bloggers at Bearing Drift commented that this characterization might be premature since Allen has opponents for the Republican nomination. I respectfully disagree.
I have written that the reason that leftists win more elections and enact more of their policies than they should be able to do is that while conservatives are busy trying to win the argument, leftists are working to win elections.
Tim Kaine and Barack Obama
This principle applies to the 2012 Senate race. Former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is running unopposed for the Democrat nomination. Kaine is a leftist whose greatest distinction is that, as Barack Obama’s hand-picked Chairman of the Democrat National Committee, he played a major role in imposing the ObamaCare scheme on a nation that vehemently opposed it. His radicalism is confirmed in his enthusiastic advocacy for every aspect of Barack Obama’s agenda. The Democrats have already unified behind Kaine’s candidacy, and as a former DNC Chairman with a record as a leftist movement leader, he will enjoy a national fundraising base that will provide him with all of the resources he needs to mount an aggressive campaign.
On the Republican side, there are several obscure candidates running against former Governor and U.S. Senator George Allen. These challengers are good people with impressive backgrounds (a lawyer, a businessman, a preacher, a tea party organizer). However, each of these candidates has adopted an attitude that they deserve to be taken seriously as candidates merely because they have announced their candidacies – despite the fact that none of these candidates has ever held elective office, and none of them has even tried to offer a rationale for their respective candidacies other than “I’m a conservative purist, and I’m not George Allen.”
Each of these challengers is wondering why they are not gaining traction or support. The answer is simple: None of them can defeat Tim Kaine – but George Allen can.
And fortunately, George Allen is a perfectly good conservative candidate who can be supported without sacrificing conservative principles.
Allen has described himself as a “Jeffersonian” conservative throughout his two decades of public service. He has lived up to that description, not only because he had the distinct honor of representing Thomas Jefferson’s district in both the Virginia House of Delegates and U.S. House of Representatives, but because he applied Jefferson’s principles of limited government when he served in the Jefferson-designed Governor’s Mansion as arguably the most accomplished governor of Virginia in the modern era.
As governor, Allen applied pro-business policies to attract hundreds of new businesses to Virginia, creating thousands of new jobs. He reformed government, abolished parole, and implemented criminal justice reforms that have made Virginia one of the safest states in the country ever since.
Previously, as a member of Congress, Allen introduced a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment that came within 4 votes of passing through the Congress. He continued his record of fiscal conservatism in the U.S. Senate, albeit with a couple of votes here and there that were disagreeable to conservatives – many of which he has since renounced (e.g., his prior support for ethanol subsidies).
Allen’s greatest weakness is not ideological; it is his famously strange and appallingly stupid use of the invective “macaca” to describe an Indian-American Democrat campaign operative who was stalking him at his campaign appearances in 2006. That incident cost him the election to Democrat Jim Webb, who is not seeking reelection. Allen has offered sincere apologies for the incident, and polls show that by overwhelming margins Virginia voters – including a majority of Democrats – do not consider the incident relevant to the current election.
So, is Allen the perfect conservative candidate? No, but his record over the entirety of his career is so consistently conservative that I, for one, can forgive him a few unfortunate votes as a senator that he has since renounced. His bigger liability is the “macaca” incident, but the challengers’ raison d’être is ideological and not rooted in opposition to that incident. A few aberrational votes are far less of a liability to the conservative movement than is the utter unelectability of every single one of the challengers for the Republican nomination.
So it boils down to this: With a perfectly electable Jeffersonian conservative with a distinguished two-decade record of public service in the race, what is the rationale for supporting any of the other indistinguishable candidates who have no records of public service and whose nomination would guarantee the election of yet another leftist Democrat?
There is none.
George Allen is the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2012, and barring any further “macaca” incidents, he deserves to be. (And in the unlikely event that Allen does have another such incident, the Republican establishment would almost certainly recruit a qualified and electable candidate before getting behind any of the current obscure and unelectable challengers.)
I have nothing personal against these challengers. Each and every one of them is a good person with a lot to offer their communities, state, and country, as well as the conservative movement. Some have already shown impressive leadership in doing so through grass-roots activism. But none of them deserve support for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate because none of them can defeat Tim Kaine, and George Allen can.
That’s why George Allen is ignoring his nominal challengers for the Republican nomination and focusing his energies and resources on defeating Tim Kaine. George Allen isn’t trying to win the I’m-more-conservative-than-you argument within the Republican Party. He’s trying to win the election.
So should we all.
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About the author
Ken Falkenstein has been a staffer in the United States Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates. He has managed political campaigns. He was a military intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army in West Germany during the Cold War. He is currently the Vice President of the Down Syndrome Association of Hampton Roads and practices as a civil litigation attorney with the law firm of Poole Mahoney PC in Virginia Beach. His concern for his kids' future is what most informs his writing.
Comments
44 Responses to "George Allen’s only meaningful opponent is Tim Kaine"
Ken, no doubt your position is representative of the right-wing base, but for the rest of us, Allen continues to represent exactly what we threw out in 2006. Limited government? Certainly not illustrated by Allen’s senate voting record. The most accomplished governor of Virginia in the modern era? GMAB.
You want to win the election; I want to reinvent, return, and re-establish integrity and frugality to the party. Honestly, if Allen wins the primary (which he likely will because he has the cash advantage), I’m seriously thinking of voting for Kaine (as a protest vote) and I suspect many other fiscal conservatives will join me.
McDonnell is turning into a joke, the RPV regurgitates Allen, and Kaine faces no primary challenge, which means he can come off the starting gate w/ a moderate stance (and thus attract much of highly populated NOVO, HR, and Richmond) ~ it’s way too early to predict but not a bad prescription for the purple state voting blue in ’12.
I really like Allen, and for a major, statewide election, Ken’s strategy is best. However, Allen is not as conservative as he claims to be.
Jay D said: “Honestly, if Allen wins the primary (which he likely will because he has the cash advantage), I’m seriously thinking of voting for Kaine (as a protest vote) and I suspect many other fiscal conservatives will join me.”
Jay, if you are unhappy with Allen and choose to sit out the vote, that’s one thing; nobody should ever vote against their good conscience. But voting FOR someone who firmly opposes everything you are fighting for — that would simply be nuts.
I think you “suspect” wrong.
Got no problem with Allen being the R candidate. My question is when did he repent his bigotry? What I mean is, is it that he truly is not langer a bigot or is it just that he learned how to keep his mouth shut on the subject?
Ken: I agree with you that he has no meaningful opposition for the nomination. That being said, it makes perfect sense for him just to ignore his primary opponents. But I’ll bet he won’t. He’s a combative personality, I doubt he’s got the discipline to just ignore people who are going to be talking trash about him for the next year.
Eric, he never has been a bigot.
@Steve: Is it your opinion that discussing a candidates ACTUAL VOTING RECORD is trash-talking? If not, what did you mean with your comments, specifically?
Eric — I didn’t mean that’s how I see it. I meant that’s how he’ll see it. He’s not a guy to keep silent while others are criticizing him.
@Dan – Sorry but that is clearly not true. The macaca comment showed him for who he truly is – his guard was down. There is no other reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from that incident. I know that this is a “when did you stop beating your wife” question but it is relevant. That is unless you, as a voter, do not care if your representative is a bigot – some very well may NOT care.
But, assuming you do, it is logical to ask “has he really changed?”
This is a common strategy – “drain them of their morale so that they don’t want to fight”, demoralize the enemy. The TEA party is used to it //grin//. The first group to try it were Progressives who attempted to convince everyone that the TEA party was astroturf, and it has gone through a number of iterations since then. Now we arrive at the point where Republicans want to convince TEA party people that they can’t win, and not only can they not win an evolving strategy is to try to convince TEA party people that the entire movement is dead, or that it has been absorbed by the Republican party, etc.
George Allen’s only meaningful opponent is Tim Kaine, so give up TEA party, surrender, you don’t have a chance, you’re wasting your time.
“When torrential water tosses boulders, it is because of its momentum. When the strike of a hawk breaks the body of its prey, it is because of timing.” – The Art of War
Temp: While that might be a strategy in some areas, it’s just a realization of the facts on the ground in this case. Not everything is possible. I can’t jump to the moon and Radtke can’t win the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate from Virginia in 2012 from where she is now. Can’t get there from here.
People vote both for and against all the time. Generally I vote for a conservative during the primaries and against the democrat after the primaries.
If I was a democrat, I would vote for Allen in the primary. Nothing turns core dems on like a candidate who turns conservatives off like an imitation conservative.
What really motivates voters? The gifted candidates during years past who motivated people to vote for them regardless of party were Reagan and Clinton. Both of them were perpetually optimistic, humorous and consistently delivered upbeat messages about America. Both told everyday people that they mattered and their involvement was important. Allen disgusts too many people on the right and legions on the left so I think that enough reserved conservatives who are disgusted won’t bother to vote. Kaine wins this with ease.
It’s Allen’s nomination to lose. Even if he implodes, Republican primary voters would still need to rally behind a single candidate to stop George from winning the nomination.
I still hope Bob Marshall gets in; he may be the one candidate who can unify the Anyone But Allen (ABA) vote. However, Allen is up 21 points in the 2nd Quarter.
George Allen is the only Republican that can beat Kaine? Hah. He couldn’t beat a democrat candidate with no money, and the personality of a rock in 2006, even though Allen had out raised Webb by Millions of dollars.
The guy who voted for no child left behind, Medicare part D, raising the debt ceiling and bragged about all the pork he brought to Va, now wants another chance? That RINO needs to be put out to pasture.
@Patrick, and just who have the other candidates beaten?
Allen lost in 2006 after months of a full court press from the Washington Post, the Democrats and the leftist blogs. And even with macaca and all of that he lost by less than 1 percentage point on a night when Republicans were getting slaughtered nationwide.
You’re right that he does have to defend his record, and that some of his record needs explaining. But again, unlike the other candidates, at least he has a record.
The other candidates are fine people, a little obsessed with trashing George Allen, but otherwise fine people. Most of them I could support for other, perhaps lesser, offices. But none of them have the campaigning strength, the command of issues and the ability to raise the needed millions that George Allen has.
“The other candidates are fine people, a little obsessed with trashing George Allen..”
Uh.. Michael, trashing? Not.. Exposing
[...] Allen meanwhile continues to run as if the primary is nothing more than a minor stumbling block. Most political insiders agree. Bearing Drift, the leading conservative voice on the internet, said last week that Kaine is Allen’s only “meaningful opponent“. [...]
Call it what you want Turbo, but the fact is they (particularly Jamie) have focused on trying to convince people George shouldn’t be the candidate rather than why they should.
This belief that (former) Governor and U.S. Senator George Allen is the only thing that can save us from a Kaine victory, is *precisely* what is wrong with the republican party. No guts, and pure laziness. They are perfectly willing to go along with benign choices, men who possess no convictions of their own, no sense of patriotism, no inclination to do what’s right when it’s not what the party wants. Men like Sen. Allen only thirst for power and influence. In his case, a return to it. Are we really supposed to advance the carreer one another one of those?
Sorry Sen Allen, I used my last hold-your-nose-and-vote-(R) on Sen. McCain.
George Allen’s only meaningful opponent is Tim Kaine… so that’s why he not only lost the Bearing Drift poll but over 60% of the participants also chose someone other than George Allen? Fantastic. Glad we got that cleared up.
Well-stated Mr. Edward of Huncote.
Related …if you guys weren’t watching Charlie Rose last night, you missed a terrific multi-topic conversation with Senator Tom Coburn. About 16:15 into the counter, Sen. Coburn speaks about real leadership. And at 17:09 he nails it: “I think people [Congress] are more interested in their party and more interested in their next election then they are the future of the country. … They [the voters] don’t trust us and they have good reason not to because we won’t step up and lead and put our own personal careers behind us and say let’s work together and solve what we need to solve for the country…”
@ Michael ~ at some point you might want to rethink blaming WaPo and the “leftists” for GA’s loss and shed some of that responsibility onto your candidate? Yep, Allen has a record – a record of participating in the “typical Washington deal, where we look like we’re fixing things when we know we’re not; we’re winking and nodding, we have smoke and mirrors, but we’re not actually doing it.”
This interview is worth watching. It’s informative and encouraging seeing a political leader speak with honesty and directness, but discouraging (at the same time), knowing that Coburn is a rarity and the Great State of Virginia has no one of remotely equal character on either side of this ballot – or in the mansion.
http://www.charlierose.com/
[...] Bearing Drift’s best efforts to paint Goerge Allen as the presumptive nominee for the Republican’s to take on Tim Kaine for the US Senate seat that Jim Webb currently has, [...]
Yea, no meaningful competition that beat him in a Bearingdrift poll!
George Allen was fired by Virginians for a reason! Jamie Radtke is a far bedtter choice than Allen, so why not remind people of the obvious George Allen weaknesses that somed of you try so hard to ignore and wish away. You think Kaine won’t exploit his baggage?
Gaining no traction? Jamie lost an earlier poll and won the last one. Still far to go, but that indicates progress. Progress indicates gaining traction. So, I totally disagree with your analysis, Ken.
Britt,
How exactly is Jamie a “far better candidate” than Bishop Jackson, or Tim Donner? Are you that impressed by rhetoric over substantive qualifications?
If she were really the tea partiers’ choice, the grassroots choice, why is that she only has 2,000 followers on Facebook after six months of hard campaigning across the state?
If Jamie were a man, would her resume impress you?
Sara, I like Bishop Jackson. He would be far preferable to George Allen.
I have looked at Jamie’s website, watched multiple video and TV appearances by Jamie Radtke, I heard her speak and outline her fiscal conservative position. I will admit that she is more socially conservative than my preference, but I can live with that. Our country is in on the edge of fiscal armageddon. George Allen has a bad record in that regard in the senate and Jamie Radtke is taking fiscally conservative stances. Her Tea Party background is a qualifier that gives me even more reason to believe she is being honest on her fiscal views. That an video that predates her running for senate that you can easily find on youtube.
I will say she is MY choice. There are other Tea Partiers in the field. Bishop Jackson being one. Jamie got out early, beat Allen in a BD poll, has some organization that is growing, I like her political views, so she gets my support.
What if she was a man? Sara, what if you were a man? I am not sure why you want to go there. If you want to come out and say it, you go right ahead. That is on you. If she were a man, I would still support her. I support her based on issues. To me she is the best candidate in the field without regard to gender. If you have seen my replies in the past, you know I am consistently a fiscal conservative. I am a hard core true believer. Your gender or hers makes no difference in what I believe. Nice that you feel the need to question my integrity as you grind that axe with Jamie.
Ah, yes, the you “question my integrity” response. I don’t find her background the least bit impressive for a US Senate run. Most people I talk to don’t either, and they happen to be: voters.
Still didn’t answer the Facebook question, though. Why not?
Sara, if Allen were a woman would you forgive him for his mistakes? Keep on trashing viable alternatives to Kain and you will help the establishment snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Hmmmm. I’m not saying I forgive Allen for his mistakes. I think it’s clear who I am supporting, check my blog. That particular candidate happens to have a resume of accomplishment, which matters to me.
Now, you can say that wanting a candidate to have a record of accomplishment, other than getting Marlene Durfee elected, is too high a standard on my part, but I think I’m in line with most voters. If that is having an “axe to grind” — gosh, I guess I’m guilty. Obviously you have an axe to grind with Allen. A really big one. I don’t disparage you for that.
Britt: Winning a BD polls means exaclty nothing in the real world. Radtke doesn’t seem to even be on the radar in polls of real voters. What’s going to change that?
Steve, you miss my point. Every time with out fail, I qualify that statement by saying there is still a far way to go.
The reason you miss my point is because that poll does not reflect what a vote would look like today. Never did I say that. What it DOES indicate is progress and the beginnings of traction. It is a signal of momentum.
Why? Before she didn’t even come in a close 2nd. Now all of a sudden she wins. That is just the fact. That is by definition, forward momentum.
Look Sara, you went personal with that gender question. So, don’t be surprised if I return the favor if you choose to continue.
I do have an axe to grind with Allen. It is called his voting record.
Your political views are not too terribly different from Jamie’s from what I can tell.Your “axe to grind” with Jamie is a personal one. I have tried my damnedest to stay out of that arena despite some others urging me to pile on. Let’s not kid anyone about whether you have personal issues with jamie, right or wrong. They exist and too many people know about it for you to bother denying it.
If you were a 30 year politician with machine like networks, you would have more facebook followers. The election is still far away and progress has been made. Given his record, Sara, George Allen is clearly NOT qualified.
George Allen – fired by Virginians for a reason.
You know we have mutual friends. Some of them speak highly of you. People I respect. You contributed to the local Tea Party movement, I respect you for that. I sometimes enjoy the stuff you write, Jamie aside. I would rather be on good terms, but being a happily married man and proud of my convictions with regard to politics and liberty, I found that comment offensive. More so because it came from a fellow Tea Partier. I don’t mind you disagreeing with me. I have tried in the past to be diplomatic when we both disagreed in the past about Jamie.
Question for you Britt. Why do you insist on making this personal? I think it’s because you can’t really answer the question: What qualifies Jamie Radtke to be a US Senator?
Go ahead, make all the inferences you want to make. Have at it Britt. It still doesn’t make Jamie Radtke qualified.
All I asked you is the question I asked EVERYONE on my Facebook page. You want to be offended by it, be my guest. There were people who thought it a good question.
Out here in the blogosphere, most of her most ardent vocal supporters happen to men. That’s all. There were very few women, actually none besides her mom, on her last video….. it was men who called her gifted, etc. So, I asked: If you took Jamie Radtke’s name off her resume, and put the name Jim on there, would people think it a well qualified person to run for the US Senate in Virginia? I just don’t see how planning a tea party convention is enough to send her over the top …. do US Senators do a lot of party planning?
Sara,
I don’t know if you have noticed, but by far most of the “ardent supporters” of every candidate in the race who are on this board are men, with the exception of you and one or two others who post here. Most of Allen’s ardent supporters on this board are men, why are they supporting Allen, just because he is a man ?? With Allen’s record, the fact that he has so much support here over an enthusiastic entry with a positive message must be because all of Allen’s supporters can’t see past the fact that Allen is a man, right ? See how absurd that sounds, how insulting ? Yeah, people here can’t actually support Mrs. Radtke as a candidate for the things she says, it has to be because she’s a woman!?
I agree that Mrs. Radtke has very little experience, but as you know most of the TEA Partiers have very little political experience, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t run.
Recently received a thank you letter from the Allen campaign thanking me for my financial contribution.
That letter was a piece of art, whoever wrote that deserves a pat on the back. I supposed a staffer added the hand written note at the bottom.
If the campaign is run with this same finesse, then surely Senator Allen will have his chance “to fight for the views and values of Virginians by reining in the overspending, overreaching federal government”.
Ok, so you don’t have an axe to grind, Sara? Her mom is her only female supporter? I guess you didn’t watch Jamie’s campaign videos with the WOMAN and her DAUGHTER. I guess you deny that there is a regular female commenter here that is a strident supporter of hers.
Then there is another woman that comments here, but not so often. Should we ask, “What if Karen Hurd was a man?” ???
My facebook listing of women that support Jamie Radtke show a vastly different picture than the one you paint.
Yes, I found that offensive, and many men and women will find that characterization offensive. It really is true that we men can actually think with our brain.
No it doesn’t bother me that she never held elective office. It isn’t like she doesn’t have a BS and a Masters that lend themselves to government work. She certainly worked for the Senate Foreign Relations committee. I can’t remember exactly what she did, but she worked somehow in the area of government taxation. I will have go to her site and brush up on her list, so I can quote it better for you next time. She has obvious organizing skills and unlike Allen, she is right on the issues. Of course I can support that.
Wow, that women angle………this is just easy if you’re going to be so incredibly wrong. Like you don’t know many of the women who support her. What else are you going to blatantly lie about?
The reason we are in the mess we find ourselves in is that we have way too many experienced politicians with way too many years of experience who lack integrity despite their better judgement.. and depite their promises. The stench coming from the banks of the Potomac smelled like low tide when the GOP had control last round while Allen was entrusted to represent our best interests. His job performance during that stint unfortunately for him showed his true colors and enough conservative tea party types realized they had been fooled big time and this was well before the fall of 2007. The worst big government votes came from long time experienced politicians who knew better, not younger inexperienced people of integrity who had better judgement and the intestinal fortitude to call out their own party. Jamie has the balls to call the party to the mat for a brawl.. yes I said that sexist comment Sara.
Time for a senator with a pair of cajones, ovaries or whatever it takes to use common sense every vote and not let DC change them the way it changed Allen.
Britt Howard has touched on an issue I believe could be the strongest asset of the Radtke campaign, if they can somehow seize upon it as an issue. “She lacks experience as an elected official.” Though that statement is true, it should in no way be interpreted as “She has no political instincts.” It may be exactly what the U.S. Senate needs a bigger dose of.
Sadly, as I plug along the blogs, I see Sen. Allen increasingly treated as the presumptive nominee. Heck, they were doing that even before candidacy was declared. I just want to see a fair primary; I want to see the best one win, the one most likely to preserve freedom and liberty, not just the one most likely to succeed in beating Tim Kaine.
Depending upon which polls you look at, a match-up between Gov. Kaine and Sen. Allen, is said to be a statistical dead-heat, while a match-up between Ms. Radtke and Gov. Kaine puts her double-digits down. So there’s a lot of ground to be made up.
I suppose the question becomes, do we take the easy road that (maybe) produces a known quantity to represent Va., or do we get to work and fight hard to send someone else to Washington that isn’t already compromised.
I’m not really advocating for Ms. Radtke alone, as I said, I just want to know we did the best we could. If we lose, we just lose, see ya’ in 2018, but at least put up a scrap!
Sara, Time for truth and a heart to heart out in the open from insider to insider..
If your guy Tim Donner is so viable, why does he only have 90 friends on Facebook? Why did his campaign staff quit? What has he accomplished? What qualifies a trust fund baby with a baseball radio show to be senator?
People are struggling and Allen is the worst big spending big govt republican senator we have had in decades. We finally have a candidate who can change the course of politics as usual in Virginia and you want to screw it up? Truth is spooky stuff former Mrs Tea Party chairwoman.
interesting…I see others can post links but I for some reason cannot. I just tried to post a link to an article I wrote and posted at richmondteaparty dot com. No joy. Wrong browser?
I posted my thoughts on this matter in a broad sense in an article titled “An Open Letter To The Republican Party: The Line In The Sand.” If you google that phrase you will find the article.
Establishment R’s: feast on your own entrails. Please.
Never thought I’d see conservative people imply that “experience” is what matters, not the positions and voting records of the candidates. Harry Reid has a ton of experience.
How about folks point out where they disagree with Jamie’s positions? Simply saying “she has less experience than George Allen” is not a compelling argument, at least to me.
And the charge that Jamie is getting support because she is female is disgusting. Truly disgusting.
Jamie- I edited your comment to provide a link to your blog. I disagree with your views on this subject, but I believe in a robust exchange of ideas, so I hope people will read your blog in addition to mine and decide for themselves who is right.
Thank you, Ken.
I am a moderate who reads both right and left blogs. I have quite a bit to say on this blog. I hope everyone agrees on free expression of ideas!
First off, Kaine got lucky by not having Bobby Scott run for a primary battle. I believe luck plays a part in politics. I think Bobby Scott will run for Senate one day, like 2014. (I feel Mark Warner will quit since he doesn’t really like the Senate to reseek the governor’s mansion after McDonnell.)
I’m also a little upset that in 2013 we wouldn’t have a US Senator with combat experience. Virginia has a large military presense. My entire life Virginia has had at least 1 Senator with combat experience. I feel a Senator needs to have that to run for office. Both Allen, Kaine and Mark Warner lack that.
I feel Radtke is very qualified to be Senator. I feel any head staffer has seen enough of the campaign trail and the inner workings of government to run an office himself or herself. As far as the other Republican candidates, I am not sure. I just haven’t followed it enough to know but I will check into it.
Kaine is also qualified to be Senator. The only problem I feel he has is he versed enough in foreign policy? Chairman of the DNC is not really foreign policy experience and book knowledge only goes so far. But George Allen and Mark Warner were kind of in the same boat when they first office.
I definitely have my problems with Obamacare. But it does allow me (a 23 year old male) to stay on my parents’ plan until 26, which is great. (I didn’t really follow the Republican counterplans and I hope they include that.) I also question if the nation vehemently opposed Obamacare. Somehow it passed a filabuster. Most of my Democratic friends liked it. My Republican friends disliked it. Typical of legislation these days in this highly partisan country. My 2 moderate friends say the good and bad of it.
I disagree with this quote: “leftists win more elections and enact more of their policies than they should be able to do is that while conservatives are busy trying to win the argument, leftists are working to win elections.” I think it all depends on the time and location of the election. In 2002 and 2004 it looked like Republicans were winning elections and Democrats were just sinking due to 9-11. Last year Republicans overwhelmingly took over state legislators and governor’s mansions for the first time in a long time. I bet in state and federal governments, there are more Republicans than Democrats elected.
George Allen may have creamed Jim Webb in fundraising overall. However, in the 3rd quarter of 2006, Webb barely beat Allen in fundraising. Political analyst rightfully think that quarter is very important. Most of the nation doesn’t care about early campaign contributions.
I also disagree with this quote: “And fortunately, George Allen is a perfectly good conservative candidate who can be supported without sacrificing conservative principles.” He voted with GW Bush 96 percent of the time. I feel only 80 percent of GWB’s policies and bills were true conservative thinking. GWB was not a true conservative, but a big government guy. Allen also voted for the first stem cell bill.
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