Give her credit for nothing else, Representative Drake has carried the water for the Republican establishment. Ear to the ground, when she speaks, you can bet she's at least transmitting the vibrations of the herd. Today, some themes were apparent as she addressed a crowd of disappointed Virginia Beach Republicans.
The predictable, meanspirited appeal to the potential voting base, disguised as populism, will include the talking points she outlined today and more. Warning, with little time for the Obama administration to get in place and implementing change, for Virginia elections, these simplistic themes may resonate. With little time for the economy to turn, for 2009, the glue that will bind the Democratic effort will be organization, not enthusiasm.
Republican themes going forward into 2009:
- The strategic energy policy is incoherent
- The economic stimulus plan is a give-away
- The elections were bought
- The elections were stolen
- The media is biased
"I really believe that what threw us into the spiral we are in was the cost of energy; companies leaving our nation..."
The economic plan put forth by the Democrats will be wrong minded. You are already familiar with this. Democrats want to grow government and make people dependent; Republicans want to grow the economy through tax cuts.
"Watch this economic stimulus package in November: on the Democrats' side it's going to be more unemployment, more heating assistance, more food stamps... on our side it is going to be tax policy that allows us to create jobs and create growth."
The election was bought. Of course, for a long time Democrat, this coming from a Republican is an astounding turn of events: a Republican crying poor-mouth. Representative Drake, without providing figures for her own efforts, rhetorically asked "How do you overcome the incredible amount of money that was spent against me ...our guestimate is from April of '06 till now upwards of $5 million has been spent against me." She railed against the Service Employees International Union.
"The frightening message that has just gone out is that they can buy elections."
The election was stolen. Even more nefarious, she charged that maybe identities were too. Not a well developed theme as yet, but apparently she has been in contact with Attorney General McDonnell about her concerns for the privacy of those whose information was taken by persons unknown. "Why do we allow people to stand out in front of DMV?" she asked, implying that voter registration drives were culprits in any of a number of schemes.
"I have calls from people who were never registered."
The media is slanted against us. Now this is harder to reconcile the more you consider it. If the mainstream media is slanted toward the Democrats, why would the Democrats want it balanced?
"I think fairness doctrine is one that they will bring back."
And for all watching the 5th:
"Aren't you guys stunned that Virgil Goode is in a recount and 600 votes down? "
So there you have the world according to Representative Drake. She has at least given fair warning of the themes that will be forthcoming. It is easy to imagine the Virginia GOP beating these drums effectively. There is nothing here that will rally the Democratic base and a lot to appeal to the GOP's. But really, give her credit for nothing else.
Cross posted at VBDems - Blogging our way to Democratic wins in Virginia Beach! Go RK!
So, yes, you are correct in believing that complaint will be one of the Republican talking points, as will an abiding concern about the destruction of democracy because of fraudulent voter registration and deliberately mistaken identities of voters (Acorn!)... all of the fraudulent voters being "those ones" who are not whitebread countryclub and who have unpronounceable names. Boohoohoo.
Also, yes, it will be up to the Obama grassroots to demand that the Democrats, especially the national old-line Democrats shut up and get with the Obama program. No wavering. No whining. No special exception diversions. Grrr.
Somehow I think the Republicans won't go for that, because their real concern isn't about fraud, it's about too many people they don't want registered being registered.
Drake never came across to me as being very bright. I thought she was a crappy State Senator, and she won her Congressional seat when another "I'm not gay just because I have sex with men because the men I have sex with aren't gay since they just have sex with guys like me, who also aren't gay" Republican had to resign "while innocent" after getting taped doing the old Republican Shuffle as outlined above. She should have lost in 2006, she did lose and it wasn't very close this time.
It's a regular Republican enema out there and crap candidates like Drake are on their way to the septic system where they below.
Obama's thumping in both the popular and Electoral votes wasn't an accident. GOP lost Virginia, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa and North Carolina for a reason, and exit polls indicate the only GOP voters this time around were 19th-century America: the small-town white protestants. If GOP continues to be the Anti-Progress Party, they'll turn into the modern-day No-Nothing Party.
As for the fairness doctrine, I'd say that would be missing the target. A "truth" doctrine with penalties (imagine O'Reilly or Hannity being obligated to tell the 'folks' they were full of crap, again & again, until this correction ritual consumes the entire time slot.
Presumably a channel that has "fair and balanced" coverage should already be in compliance with the old fairness doctrine -- in other words, the re-institution of the rule should have no impact on its programming (truth is hard to measure sometimes -- equal time is not).
I don't see what they're whining about either -- in the new media environment where there is cable news and satellite radio -- a reintroduction of the fairness doctrine wouldn't have much impact on them. It would only impact those using the public airwaves -- so it would only impact one segment of Fox's programming (it's AM broadcasting). Limbaugh too would probably do just fine if he was forced to transition from AM to a satellite only broadcast.