Meanwhile, back at Tea Party Headquarters....
Hear that loud, shrill whistle? That's the sound of the Tea Party falling at terminal velocity from 60,000 feet, soon to make a bunch of smoking holes in the ground all across America. Just as I predicted. :)
The Tea Party's recent fall from grace over their handling of the budget / debt ceiling in Washington happened in the blink of an eye. From hero to goat....a quick, instant SPLAT! Americans are practical people who get things done, and are willing to sit down and work together....aka "compromise"....to make things happen. Case in point:
In the New Jersey gubernatorial race the incumbent (Republican) Chris Christie is quick to point out that, yes, he's a conservative, but is willing to compromise if it will deliver positive results for his state. Democrats aren't the Devil incarnate, and can in fact be valuable political partners. And polls suggest he's headed for a BIG win.
In contrast, polls say the Virginia gubernatorial race is going to be a major crash-and-burn exercise for Tea Party (Republican) candidate, Kenneth Cuccinelli II. He's portrayed as a stiff, extreme ideologue, the exact opposite of what thinking Virginians want.
This to me is very good news. Exciting news, even. It might not make for a very interesting blog post....no catastrophes, no blood or guts, no "he said / she said" scandals, but still very good news. Send all the extremists to the woodshed for a sound whipping, and leave governing to those who can sit down and work together like adults.
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Now for a 180 degree turn, I must eat some humble pie. Last week I spoke out against having too much stuff, yet bro and I went out last Friday and bought new phones. My rather lame (but true) excuse is that Verizon's $100 trade-in offer was about to expire. "Use it or lose it" they say.
As I use my mobile phone for both home and business purposes (it's the only phone I have) and as my old one was many generations past it's prime, I felt slightly less guilty buying a new one.
And dang, is it cool! It can pull up things faster than I can even think about them. And K says (and she's pretty tech savvy) that the phone's camera is better than any other camera I have, so my little pocket Canon will soon be relegated to a place of honor on my memorabilia shelf.
That's progress, I suppose.
S
I'll be watching tomorrow's election returns with interest. Like you I hope this is the beginning of the end for the Tea Party.
ReplyDeleteThe problem for Christie when he runs for president in 2016 is doing the hard-right turn for the primaries. That's what's tripped up other candidates like Romney and McCain. You have to court the extremists in your party early on and then make the turn back to the center once you've locked down the nomination.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I want to hope the Tea Party is done for, I doubt it. Most of these jokers are still going to be around at least through 2014 and Americans have short memories. That is if they don't shoot themselves in the foot with another shutdown as seems very possible considering they don't seem to have learned anything from their recent failure.
Pat nailed it also.
ReplyDeleteNot a Tea Party fan (well maybe their principles, not their methods) but the administration must take some "credit" for failing to negotiate and failing to lead. A true leader could have swayed congress and public opinion to thwart the TP. The President may have succeeded in defeating the TP, his political agenda, but his failure to lead failed the country. They both smell!!
ReplyDeleteWhy should Obama have had to negotiate with them? The law was passed years ago. All attempts to overturn it in Congress and in the Supreme Court failed. But since the TP couldn't get their way through the democratic system they decided to try to go around it and hold the whole country hostage. And you think we should negotiate with people like that?
DeleteExactly right, plus the Obama administration is the first after years and years to actually try to fix health care. Others had their chance and did nothing.
DeleteI'm wearing a t-shirt showing the Mad Hatter, Alice and some dumb bunny at a tea party. Actually they all look kinda dumb.
ReplyDeleteI'll ignore the politics & go straight for the phone. I've been wary of getting a fun new phone for myself because I know I'd just play endless games of Words with Friends on it - and since my current bill is around $30 per month it wouldn't be a smart fiscal move. But this weekend some friends were using the stopwatch feature on their phones & I was green with envy. Sure my little flip phone will act like a stopwatch, but it turns off when you close the phone. Not exactly useful for carrying around. [Note: I don't even NEED a stopwatch!]
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy your new phone!
Bug, check out Virgin Mobile...we have their unlimited data and text plus 300 minutes talk (which we've never even come halfway close to reaching). It's $35/month, and you can surf, Facebook, and play Words with Friends until the cows come home.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the market for a newer phone (maybe Santa will bring it). I'm still researching the different models. Scott, what kind did you get? Inquiring minds need to know... :-p
Never mind...I just noticed the labels on this post. One of them is iPhone5S. Simpler frugal living - hah!
Don't get any crazy ideas Betina. With $100 off that made the price $99, and piggy-backing my service with our work account only adds $10 a month to our bill. (We share more minutes than we can possibly use.)
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