The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

To Say the Very Least

Posted on | November 8, 2014 | 59 Comments

Ross Douthat on the Wendy Davis debacle for Texas Democrats:

It should be said, and many people are saying it, that Davis and her team ran a poorer-than-expected campaign overall, and that the allegedly-brilliant team running the Democrats’ new Texas ground game were not in fact so brilliant. But the more important issue, surely, is that the Democrats decided that it made sense to run, well, Wendy Davis as their “change-the-map” candidate in Texas. Nunn and Carter in Georgia were nominations that fit reasonably well with the facts on the ground, and while they obviously disappointed Nunn did at least outperform the last two Democratic Senate nominees in her state. Davis, on the other hand, actually underperformed the Democratic nominee’s totals in the last two head-to-head races against Rick Perry … which is, again, pretty much exactly what you’d expect when you nominate a figure who owed her prominence to a filibuster on late-term abortion to contest a statewide rate in Texas. . . .

Read the whole thing, but you could summarize the basic error of Democrats in Texas and elsewhere this cycle in one word: Hubris.

Republicans did much the same thing in 2005-2006 after Bush’s re-election convinced the Stupid Party that America had reached some kind of GOP utopia, “The Permanent Republican Majority.”

There were people (Hugh Hewitt comes instantly to mind) who actually believed that nonsense, who failed to realize how the betrayal of trust epitomized by John McCain’s “shamnesty” proposals in 2006 and 2007 were alienating grassroots conservatives.

Clearly, Republican leaders believed they could compromise on economic issues and split the difference on social issues. The devastating losses in the 2006 mid-terms and the crushing victory of Barack Obama did nothing to knock any sense into Karl Rove’s GOP Strategery Brain Trust. However, in 2010, conservatives finally told the GOP leadership to go to hell and the grassroots had their own damned revolution. (Fuck you, Charlie Crist. Rot in hell, Arlen Specter.)

The GOP Strategery Brain Trust managed to reassert itself after 2011, as John Boehner and other backstabbing crapweasels managed to fritter away whatever influence had been gained by the historic 2010 Republican landslide. Naturally, then, Mitt Romney got the 2012 GOP nomination and, naturally, lost to Barack Obama. So here we are at last, in 2014, when Mitch McConnell and his cronies have finally recaptured the GOP majority they fumbled away in 2005-2006.

What happened to Democrats in 2014, then, was a sort of natural consequence of political momentum in America’s two-party system. When a party re-elects their president to his second term, the winners always believe they have a complete mandate for their agenda, no matter how narrow the margin of their victory. Republican victories in the elections of 1980, 1984 and 1988 were all by margins that could be called legitimate mandates, larger than the margins of either of Obama’s victories in 2008 or 2012. Nancy Pelosi’s tenure as Speaker of the House lasted only four years, and Harry “The Alleged Pederast” Reid kept the Senate Majority Leader’s gavel for eight years.

Clearly, the Democrats who thought Wendy Davis could be elected governor of Texas were insane for believing it, but the incoming floodtide of Mexicans will sooner or later turn Texas into a Democrat state, and Democrats will turn Texas into an impoverished and corrupt ruin, as they are already doing in California. Unless the new Republican majority in Congress is absolutely dedicated to a no-more-bullshit border security policy — no amnesty now, no amnesty ever — their majority will prove short-lived, and Mitch McConnell will have the honor of being the Last Republican Senate Majority Leader, presiding over the end of the American republic.

Unless the idiots atop the GOP power ziggurat in Washington wake up, by 2030, the Republican Party will be a withered shadow of its former self, exiled to permanent minority status and political irrelevance. That is to say, if there still is a Republican Party in 2030. It’s not too hard to envision a scenario wherein Democrats win the White House in 2016, take back the Senate in 2018, re-elect Hillary Clinton and recapture the House in 2020, The consequences of such a scenario could lead to either (a) the final collapse of the Republican Party or (b) Texans voting to secede from the Union.

Honestly, I think Texas should have seceded last year, although next year or the year after that would be OK, too. But they need to do it soon, or eventually there won’t be anything left of Texas worth fighting to save, nor anything anywhere else in America, either. Democrats will preside over the Death of America, because the leaders of the Republican Party are all worthless, unprincipled, selfish cowards who care more for the prestige of their own offices than they do for the people who elected them. Any other questions?

America is hopelessly doomed. Nothing but a miracle can save us. But there is no reason we can’t laugh while it’s still legal to laugh.

 

Category: Election

Comments

59 Responses to “To Say the Very Least”

  1. Isaac T
    November 8th, 2014 @ 8:21 pm

    If the Democrats *really* wanted to turn Texas blue, they’d run Wendy Davis out on a rail and import Robert Sarvis.

  2. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    November 8th, 2014 @ 9:16 pm

    https://twitter.com/MsEBL/status/531251093372555264

  3. Daniel Freeman
    November 8th, 2014 @ 10:02 pm

    There is no particular reason why Hispanics need to be a Democratic constituency, and I think you should also look at birth rates. You could put up an impenetrable force field around Texas, and it would still just be a matter of time until it was majority-minority.

    I think that a better tactic would be to emphasize common cultural ideals, like faith, family, industriousness, and entrepreneurship. To keep Texas red, you don’t need to keep Hispanics out of the state; you just need to bring them into the conservative coalition.

    That could be a challenge, since there were still a lot of racial tensions when I was there in the ’90s, but I think it’s possible if you really try. See “A Framework for Understanding Poverty” for a heterodox explanation of the cultural differences between socioeconomic classes. (The academic establishment despises Ruby Payne, for telling unsanctioned truths.)

  4. Quartermaster
    November 8th, 2014 @ 10:31 pm

    I lived in San Antonio from October 1969-Macrh 1971, and the racial tensions were largely absent. There were a few idiots, like Henry Cuellar, who was a Congresscritter, and pretty thorough going racist, but the rest were pretty quiet.

    The lower classes liked to try to gang up on the “anglos” to let them know they were in control. MilBrats, however, didn’t play the game, and generally pushed back rather hard, and after one of us put 4 “Mexicans” in the hospital one afternoon, they studiously left us alone.

  5. Julie Pascal
    November 8th, 2014 @ 10:32 pm

    LOL… oh dear.

  6. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    November 8th, 2014 @ 10:44 pm

    Inspired by a RSM retweet: https://twitter.com/NeinQuarterly/status/530993104916971520

  7. DeadMessenger
    November 8th, 2014 @ 11:12 pm

    Sounds like the future of the republic: Revelation 18

  8. richard mcenroe
    November 8th, 2014 @ 11:39 pm

    McConnell, McCain and Boehner don’t care about the GOP in 2030 because they won’t be here in 2030…

  9. richard mcenroe
    November 8th, 2014 @ 11:41 pm

    Greg Abbott took 50% of the male hispanic vote and 39% of the female vote, without pandering on amnesty.

  10. Mike G.
    November 8th, 2014 @ 11:44 pm

    You sure that isn’t a nightmare?

    Reid sure has the Koch addiction, doesn’t he.

  11. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    November 9th, 2014 @ 12:26 am

    Ahhh….damn straight it’s a nightmare!

  12. Zohydro
    November 9th, 2014 @ 12:39 am

    Priceless!

  13. David, infamous sockpuppet
    November 9th, 2014 @ 1:36 am

    Hahaha, “John Boehner and other back-stabbing crapweasels,” you have such a mellifluous command of the language. I smile every time I reread that phrase. “John Boehner and other back-stabbing crapweasels.” Hahaha.

  14. PCachu
    November 9th, 2014 @ 2:00 am

    I’d suggest that the real barrier isn’t race, but rather culture. The true trick is to keep a newcomer’s mindset from falling into the Free Shit Coalition’s trap, because there is no more powerful narcotic than the belief that The World Owes You. We’ve got entire demographic blocs demonstrating the power of that perverse snare.

    My brother, for a time, was a teacher in one of the not-so-affluent burbs in the decaying orbit of Detroit, essentially a racial minority in his place of work. He gave no crap, and also took none; one student, upon receiving a well-earned bad grade, attempted to accuse him of RAAAAACISM, but even his classmates laughed him off. But that was just a one-off. The thing that really depressed him, and made him most glad to get the hell out of there (apart from, well, not having to live in a house with bars on the windows), was the mentality he saw the kids growing into. These were kids who openly declared their greatest ambition in life to be PERMANENT WELFARE RECIPIENTS. Doctor? Teacher? Astronaut? President? Screw that shit, they want to have Uncle Sugar pay them to sit on their asses all day long.

    This is the vicious cycle that must be broken. Of course, first it needs to be determined that it even CAN be broken, without the support structure that makes it possible collapsing first.

  15. Daniel Freeman
    November 9th, 2014 @ 3:44 am

    I bet that if you detached receiving free stuff from kicking the guy to the curb — whether by not giving free stuff, or by not making it contingent on kicking the guy to the curb — then you’d have a lot more intact families. And they would be conservative.

  16. concern00
    November 9th, 2014 @ 3:45 am

    “America is hopelessly doomed.”

    And that’s why we have the second amendment, so that we can fight off the inevitable and protect family and friends until the Lord returns. I fully expect Jesus to rock up and say “hey, nice gun. BTW have you repented?”

  17. Daniel Freeman
    November 9th, 2014 @ 4:12 am

    Just sayin’.

  18. Daniel Freeman
    November 9th, 2014 @ 4:25 am

    The people of the sort that end up in the hospital one afternoon, don’t really vote that much. The ones that have families and work whatever labor they can get, or start a small business food truck, are the ones that matter.

  19. NRPax
    November 9th, 2014 @ 4:57 am

    Followed with a gentle request to share some ammunition with your less fortunate neighbors.

  20. David, infamous sockpuppet
    November 9th, 2014 @ 9:17 am

    “Love thy neighbor as thyself, but he is responsible for his own .22 LR”

  21. Adobe_Walls
    November 9th, 2014 @ 9:24 am

    As long a Sarvis continues to pull votes away from the Republican candidates the Democrats will continue to put him up a ”libertarian” candidate. Has anyone bothered to do an opporesearch on this guy?

  22. Adobe_Walls
    November 9th, 2014 @ 9:30 am

    Hispanics are not a ”natural conservative” chttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTXILmKdrjoonstituency.

  23. Adobe_Walls
    November 9th, 2014 @ 9:34 am

    Collapse will surely come first.

  24. Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup » Pirate's Cove
    November 9th, 2014 @ 9:55 am

    […] The Other McCain has some thoughts on the Wendy Davis fiasco […]

  25. Dana
    November 9th, 2014 @ 9:59 am

    Whom else could the Democrats have run in Texas? Only Reynaldo “Ray” Madrigal even filed to run against her, and the lovely Mrs Davis won the primary with almost 80% of the vote. Only Mrs Davis had any cachet amongst Texas Democrats, and that for one episode only; her 15 minutes of fame was still more than any potential challengers.

  26. Adobe_Walls
    November 9th, 2014 @ 10:04 am

    Whenever demography is cited to prove that Democrats hold the edge going in to the future the raw minority population numbers are always given. So for Hispanics for instance the illegal and legal immigrant numbers are added to Hispanic citizen totals. At what rate are legal permanent immigrants applying for and becoming citizens? Are Asians trying to gain citizenship at higher rates than Hispanics or Somalis? In other words if effective methods preventing non-citizens from voting whether illegal or not are implemented, how big is the electoral impact of rising immigrant populations really going to be?

    The current demographic trends are not destiny but merely a trajectory. Merely enforcing current laws, could significantly reduce that trajectory.

  27. Dana
    November 9th, 2014 @ 10:06 am

    Our esteemed host wrote:

    Clearly, the Democrats who thought Wendy Davis could be elected governor of Texas were insane for believing it

    Not before the fact, anyway. In Kentucky, the same thing could have been said about the Democrats who thought Alison Grimes could defeat Mitch McConnell, after the fact, but there’s no way they could have known what a lousy campaign Mrs Grimes ran, just as Texas Democrats had no idea that Mrs Davis would foul up so badly.

  28. Adobe_Walls
    November 9th, 2014 @ 10:07 am

    It would appear Davis’ cachet was much more broad among non-Texas Democrats than Texans.

  29. Quartermaster
    November 9th, 2014 @ 10:28 am

    No, they are not. I have no idea what gave the GOPe the impression they were. Perhaps the cocaine they were snorting was simply too concentrated.

  30. Quartermaster
    November 9th, 2014 @ 10:29 am

    The US is going to fall, but Revelation 18 does not deal with that.

  31. Squid Hunt
    November 9th, 2014 @ 10:55 am

    You’re operating under the assumption that the GOP is conservative? They want votes. Conservative ideals are supposedly getting in the way of that at this point.

  32. Matt_SE
    November 9th, 2014 @ 12:01 pm

    Harry “The Alleged Pederast” Reid
    LOL. That never gets old. : )

  33. Matt_SE
    November 9th, 2014 @ 12:04 pm

    Democrats are counting on those laws NOT being enforced. They’re certainly doing their part, and the establishment GOP is barely pushing back.

  34. Matt_SE
    November 9th, 2014 @ 12:14 pm

    That mentality can be broken quite easily by STARVATION. The main impediment is the knowledge that there are foolish suckers out there to bail them out.
    If these people are sure, SURE that there is no safety net and starvation is coming, watch how fast they develop habits of hard work. Especially after a few hungry nights.

  35. Eric Ashley
    November 9th, 2014 @ 12:20 pm

    You saying ‘give the guy the welfare check’? Then the woman has an incentive to be married.

  36. Matt_SE
    November 9th, 2014 @ 12:21 pm

    It was already known around the time of the Cuccinelli loss that Sarvis was being bankrolled by lefties. That didn’t seem to phase the Indy-tards who voted for him.
    IIRC, Rand Paul even denounced Sarvis in some way for being a shill, to not enough effect.

  37. Daniel Freeman
    November 9th, 2014 @ 2:34 pm

    I’m saying, they understood you, but you didn’t understand them. They wanted to destroy the family, and they played on your combination of belief in personal responsibility (for men) and chivalrous concern for women and children, to trick you into constructing incentives for low-income families to disintegrate.

    As a left-libertarian, I don’t care if you remove the support for women and children, or make it easier for families on assistance to remain intact, but the latter might be a cannier move. I’m going to give a couple of anecdotes.

    In England, they found that low-income families did better if the baby mama didn’t put her baby daddy’s name on the birth certificate, since if she did, the State would come between him and his children, demanding that he reimburse them first for everything they gave her, such as the “council estate” (public housing) — a daunting task for a menial laborer, since you can imagine how cost-conscious the State isn’t. If she left his name off, then he would eventually find his way there, with all of the usual statistical benefits to the social outcomes for kids of both sexes from having their bio dad in the house.

    Unrelatedly, AVfM recently started whiteribbon.org to oppose violence against everyone. I don’t quite understand the term, but one of the commenters called it “reverse kafkatrapping,” since the knee-jerk opposition of feminist anti-violence groups exposed them as being totally cool with violence against men.

    I don’t know if it would be reverse kafkatrapping, but proposing reforms designed to get the state out from between men and their children would put the social engineers (which I hate with every fiber of my being) in the unenviable position of either going along with it, or publicly admitting that they’re against intact families.

  38. richard mcenroe
    November 9th, 2014 @ 2:49 pm

    Oh, no, we knew who Wendy Davis was. That was her problem.

  39. Quartermaster
    November 9th, 2014 @ 2:52 pm

    I don’t operate under such an assumption. You’re new here and have not seen me post repeatedly that the GOP started as a leftist party and that has not changed. The Dims have simply gone so to the left that they have to look to the right to see Hitler and Stalin.

  40. Adobe_Walls
    November 9th, 2014 @ 2:55 pm

    So you’re suggesting that infamy is it’s own sort of cachet?

  41. Daniel Freeman
    November 9th, 2014 @ 3:33 pm

    Who are you quoting? Not me. I said it could be a challenge.

  42. Adobe_Walls
    November 9th, 2014 @ 3:37 pm

    I’m not quoting anyone in particular but everyone (there are many) who ever said that.

  43. Daniel Freeman
    November 9th, 2014 @ 3:42 pm

    I just now watched the video. Given what he said at the end, I think we’re in strong agreement.

  44. Robert What?
    November 9th, 2014 @ 4:30 pm

    While Hispanics are generally culturally conservative, they mostly come from countries where governments are run by oligarchs and/or the military and the average citizen is completely powerless. So they are comfortable with that model of government.

  45. Adobe_Walls
    November 9th, 2014 @ 4:42 pm

    The polling cited in the video above do not support the assertion that Hispanics are culturally conservative either.

  46. Daniel Freeman
    November 9th, 2014 @ 5:07 pm

    A lot of people have “mixed” ways of thinking, and you can swing the middle by emphasizing the forms of morality that work best for you. In this case, that means laying off the “purity” angle, while still hitting other conservative themes hard.

    George Lakoff meant for his insights into political cognition (such as in “Don’t Think of an Elephant”) to help the left, but as an anti-feminist, I am delighted to help you.

  47. Eric Ashley
    November 9th, 2014 @ 6:46 pm

    I have some weird views. If we’re going to give welfare, give it to men. Then the women will have an incentive to civilize the man and bind him down to marriage.

    You are correct in that the current system is Worst Possible of All Worlds.

  48. Daniel Freeman
    November 9th, 2014 @ 7:30 pm

    I realized that I recommended two books in this thread, which is just cruel (all things considered), so I hit the tip jar for enough for both (or whatever, books books books).

  49. Daniel Freeman
    November 9th, 2014 @ 7:37 pm

    We could have a crazy gang running around the countryside, murdering all the schoolboys, and kidnapping all the schoolgirls. (Call it “Boko Haram.”) But aside from that, yeah, worst of all possible worlds.

  50. K-Bob
    November 9th, 2014 @ 8:37 pm

    I think Wendy would have been a shoo-in if she’d have just admitted she wasn’t a witch. It goes without saying that she’d have been even more successful if she spelled “shoo-in” as “shoe-in.”

    Either way, she was a looser.