Posted by
David Zublick on Sunday, September 07, 2008 2:22:35 PM
There's a huge buzz in the conservative community. Republicans are
finally on board with John McCain's candidacy, what with his excellent
accounting of himself at Rick Warren's Civil Forum at
Saddleback and the addition of Sarah
Palin to the ticket.
We
should feel excited, even proud to be Republicans again. We appear to
have finally found our way, recovering from the mistakes that were made
which led to the Democrats taking over both houses of
congress in 2006. But lately I've been sensing a certain feeling of cockiness. Democrats, we are told, are running scared.
Palin has the
Obama
camp shaking in their collective boots, so it is said. Polls do show
that the race is very close, which leads many to believe that it is
only a matter of time before McCain overcomes
Obama's slight lead and takes off like a rocket. That may very well be true. We all certainly hope that this will come to pass.
However, keep in mind that there are less than 60 days left until the general election. Anything can happen. Sarah
Palin,
although a truly dynamic figure who has added spark to a campaign led
by a not altogether exciting 72 year old politician, is still untested.
She has yet to debate Joe
Biden,
and her handlers are keeping her as far away from the press as
possible. Rick Davis, appearing on Fox News Sunday, indicated that they
will determine when and if
Palin does any interviews. This is understandable, given
Palin's
treatment by the leftist mainstream media. But until we can get a more
in-depth look at her and hear her address issues such as foreign
policy, we cannot assume she is the weight that will tip the scale to
victory in November.
Keep in mind also, that there are still
many disgruntled Americans who feel that electing John McCain is giving
us another four years of George W. Bush. Most of them are angry, bitter
Democrats who are disgruntled about the war. They just want to cleanse
Washington of what they believe is the stench of failed Republican
policies. And right now, with many people hurting financially, they
don't think Republicans can pull us out of the economic malaise.
Neither
candidate has been substantive about the issues and what they are going
to do to turn things around. We do know, however, that
Obama
would raise taxes, the hallmark of liberal answers to all fiscal
problems. McCain would keep taxes low, as the conservative philosophy
is that
government actually gains more money when they let people keep more of what they earn.
One
would assume that most critical thinking Americans would understand
this, but in 2008, things are different. We cannot count on critical
thinkers to go to to the polls this November. This year, the election
will be based on emotion more than anything else. Despite her
conservative credentials, Sarah
Palin
was put on the ticket to invigorate the conservative base, and much of
that energy has manifested itself in emotions. I'm not embarrassed to
admit that I welled-up with emotion when she was announced as McCain's
running mate. Tom Ridge, Mitt Romney, Tim
Pawlenty or Bobby
Jindal would not have elicited that kind of response.
The
Democrats, as stated earlier are also very emotional. Their emotions,
however, are anger and hatred. Anger at having lost two hard fought
elections to the party diametrically opposed to everything they stand
for and hatred directed at George W. Bush. And anger can be a powerful
tool when directed like a laser beam at its target.
Since 2006,
that anger has resulted in the Democrats adding 2 million to voter
rolls in the 28 states that register voters according to party
affiliation. The Republicans have lost nearly 344,000 thousand voters
in the same states. Despite the high most Republicans are on right now
as we head into the last eight weeks of this election, the momentum is
still with the Democrats.
I am not saying we are going to lose
this election by any stretch of the imagination. It's a very close
race, and there are indications that McCain could get a very big bounce
in the polls from the Republican National Convention. Should McCain
acquit himself well in the upcoming debates, should
Palin handle herself well against Joe
Biden on such issues as foreign policy and should she make her case to the media, we can win this thing.
But we cannot be arrogant, and we cannot assume that
Obama's campaign is going to suddenly collapse.
Obama
has dodged many shots to his character, lack of experience, etc., but
to many, he is still the messiah who is going to save not only the
United States, but the world.
So we need to remain on guard. We need to proceed with this election being confident, but not cocky.
It's not over till the polls close on November 4
th.
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