Showing posts with label 2022 election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2022 election. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

"As Georgia goes, so goes the nation"

Can you imagine any political pundit writing that headline until, say, 2016? Yet last night's victory for Raphael Warnock in the run-off election for the Georgia Senate seat suggests that the Peach State is now a metaphor for the Disunited States of America.

In times past, bellwether states -- the ones that usually voted for the party of the man who would be President -- included: Pennsylvania – one miss from 1800 to 1880 (in 1824); Indiana – one miss from 1852 to 1912 (in 1876); Wisconsin – one miss from 1860 to 1912 (in 1884); and New York – one miss from 1880 to 1944 (in 1916).

But that was one or two centuries ago, in the days when Georgia was reliably Republican -- during Reconstruction -- or Democrat [or Dixiecrat! Ed.] in the mid-20th century -- or Republican again, after the disaster that was Jimmy Carter until the turmoil of the last decade or so.

With 99% of the vote counted, Senator Warnock was re-elected with 51.4% of the vote as against 48.6% for Herschel Walker. A look at the map tells you all ye need to know.

Mr Walker carried the rural areas, but lost the big(ish) cities, including the university town of Athens, and Savannah, the last bastion of the genteel old south.

And he lost Fulton County. As of the 2020 census, its population was just over a million, making it the state's most-populous county. Its county seat is Atlanta.

Today's Atlanta, which also happens to be Georgia's capital, is much differt from the city where, in the 1960s, Governor Lester Maddox sold pick and axe handles to bar "coloured people" -- the phrase seems so quaint now -- from entering his Pickrick Chicken House restaurant.

A stroll [for the brave, only! Ed.] through today's Atlanta, a microcosm of the "New South", reminds one of nowhere more than Philthydelphia. Atlants, like every other Democrat-run city, is seedy and rundown. "Persons experiencing homelessness" squat (and you can take that two ways) on sidewalks and in parks and abandoned buildings. The city is a mess -- a Democratic mess, especially on polling day. Hence the result

But that's the way it is in America as a hole. [Please check your spelling. Ed.] Demented Joe Biden accused President Trump of dividing the nation, and there was some truth in that. He promised to unite America and heal the wounds of the past four years. He failed. In fact he made things worse by upping his game of identity politics to the point where we have 50% of Americans opposing the other 50%, just as Georgians did yesterday.

Just like Georgia... The state of the disunion is such that Americans who live in cities despise rural people, and vice versa. The elites, especially those in the ivory towers of academia (Hello, Athens!) look down on those who never got brainwashed in college. And the great unwashed rightly distrust the elites and their bought-and-paid for media.

It is somewhat heartening to note that Americ is not hopelessly divided along racial lines. That one black man should be pitted against another, blacker man is telling. Lots of white folks, even in rural Georgia, voted for Senator Warnock, whereas many black folks voted for Herschel Walker because they rejected the old Baptist pastor, Uncle Tom stereotype of the "house nigger". Given a white candidate who actually had some qualifications to be a lawmaker, black people might have voted for him/her, rather than a barely literate football player.

Walt hopes that the Republicans will learn one more lesson from the mid-term elections of 2022. The US of A remains deeply divided over President Donald J. Trump. Half of America loves him. The other half hates him. And those percentages don't look like changing any time soon. 

The Republicans should learn that just because President Trump endorses a candidate doesn't make him/her a sure winner unless he/she can campaign and win on his/her own merit. [You can just say "he"; this "he/she" thing is getting tiresome. Ed.] The Republicans should have been able to win in a walk over John "Lurch" Fetterman, had they not chosen a candidate who is a Muslim and a dual citizen because he's a celebrity and The Donald likes him. 

I don't believe that many Americans are aching for a rematch of Trump vs Biden. Both Presidents have had their time, and by 2024 the nation will be in even worse shape than it is now. (Lifetime pct .990.) The time for vengeance has passed. The time has come for the GOP to let President Trump sit quietly [Is that possible? Ed.] by the pool at Mar-a-Lago, and unite behind a leader who can move the party and the country forward into economic and political recovery.

"Like who?", I hear you ask. The names Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence spring to mind. So does that of Senator J.D.Vance. Who would the Democrats put up against a ticket headed by any of those three? An 81-year-old who is already so far over the hill that he can't see it in his rearview mirror? And if not him, then who? 

Saturday, November 12, 2022

VIDEO: Victor Davis Hanson analyses the midterms

In attempting to cover American politics, I find it's often better to read/listen to analysis from overseas. Leaving aside the Canadian legacy media, who have incurable cases of TDS, foreign commentators tend to be less biased. For that reason, I often check out videos from Sky News Australia and other reportage from the Land of Oz.

Today I want to share a lengthy interview posted on John Anderson's blogsite. Mr Anderson was leader of Australia's National Party from 1999 to 2005, and  served as the 11th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. On November 10th he was joined by Victor Davis Hanson, whose commentaries have been featured on WWW.

Mr Davis (for those who don't know him) is an American farmer (!) who also happens to be a classicist, military historian, and columnist. He has written for the National Review and Washington Times, and is currently the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. In this interview, he considers what the results of the 2022 midterm elections mean for the major parties, the 2024 elections, and the American people. 

 

Note from Ed.: Readers should appreciate that at the time of the interview, the likely outcome -- which party should control Congress -- was much in doubt. As of dawn today (Saturday), it remains so. Mr Hanson's comments, summarized below, may not be his final thoughts.

Despite the policy blunders of the Biden administration, including overseeing rising inflation, illegal immigration and the spread of radical gender ideology, Mr Hanson points to the underlying malaise in American political culture that divides citizens into 'Red' and 'Blue' States as the greater threat to national stability. 

He argues that the failure of some candidates endorsed by President Trump, significantly higher election funding for the Democrats and the fracturing of the Republican party, are all contributed to the "red wave" becoming a mere ripple. 

Mr Hanson speaks with cautious optimism about promising new Republican leaders like Governor Ron DeSantis, who could unify the party and win upcoming presidential elections. Walt suggests it's time for die-hard Trumpers, as well as all conservatives, to give that suggestion serious thought.

Saturday, October 8, 2022

True Stuff Dept.: Suspicions about politicians confirmed

Later this month, municipal elections will be held in beautiful (it really is!) Wellington County ON. "Vote for" signs are already marring the landscape. These two were spotted by an assiduous reader, and submitted to Walt's ongoing "True Stuff" competition.

All credit to Ms Flake and Mr Liebig for standing for election, in spite of their names. Walt wishes them Well ington (geddit?) Thanks to our reader, and don't forget to vote!

Friday, September 23, 2022

VIDEO: Why Republicans need to be in control of Congress


To whom it may concern (and you know who you are...) You can't seriously want this senile old man -- more accurately, his Deep State handlers -- to control the fate of the United States (not to mention the free world) for another two years, with a complaisant Congress passing whatever bunny-brained bills he sends it. Do you? Seriously?!

Monday, September 5, 2022

UPDATED: DOJ attack foiled by Cannonade

Yesterday Walt opined that, if anything at all has come out of the FBI invasion of President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home,  it's that the Donald, like most of us, doesn't stay on top of his filing! 

That, and only that. You would think that if Biden's Department of Injustice had anything more -- a smoking gun, a "threat to national ssecurity", anything at all -- to prove that they were right to violate the Fourth Amendment, they would be happy to show us. Right? 

Errr, no. They have fought every step of the way to keep everything -- the search warrant, the affidavit on which it was bassed, the details of what was seized -- under wraps.

Today, the DOJ lost another round. Judge Aileen Cannon granted President Trump's request that a Special Master -- an officer of the court -- review the documents to weed out from the rest of the investigation any that might be protected by claims of attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.

Judge Cannon's order came despite the strenuous objections of the Justice Department, which said an outside legal expert was not necessary in part because officials had already completed their review of potentially privileged documents! In other words, "We've already looked at them, so you can't make us forget what we've seen."

In a clear win for President Trump's legal team, the judge said (in effect) "Oh yes, I can!" She temporarily halted the DOJ's use of the records for "investigative" (read: frame-up) purposes. Some of those records may ultimately be returned to Mr Trump, but Judge Cannon put off ruling on that question.

Meanwhile, we get closer and closer to the 2022 mid-term elections. When the Jan 6 Circus failed to sink the Trump Republicans in the polls, the Dumbocrats resported to the police state-style raid on Mar-a-Lago, hoping the FBI could do what the Congressional committee couldn't. As Nelson Muntz sez, HA-ha!

Further reading: "FBI Says The Documents In Trump’s Possession Were So Classified They Were Printed With Invisible Ink On Invisible Paper", Babylon Bee (natch!), 4/9/22. 

UPDATE ADDED 8/9/22: In desperate damage control mode, the DOJ first tried planting a "leak" in WAPO (where else?) saying that amongst the seized documents there was one (1) detailing sensitive information about "an ally's" military capabilities.

That didn't work, so today the DOJ filed an appeal of Judge Cannon's ruling, asking her to let them continue fishing in the same pond -- about 100 classified documents -- because, they say, Mr Trump’s team "may not have returned all the classified records removed from the White House at the end of his presidency." 

The prosecutors also asked the judge not to allow the Special Master to review the classified materials seized from the Trump home. Walt wonders, wasn't the whole purpose of the middle-of-the-night raid on Mar-a-Lago to recover the documents that allegedly were not returned? Does this appeal mean the DOJ admits that they might have missed some? Or does it mean that they didn't succeed in planting anything incriminating in the dozens of boxes they took away? 

President Trump, in a posting on his Truth Social platform, described the request as a waste of money. Taxpayers, that's your money he's talking about! Keep that in mind in November.

Friday, September 2, 2022

BN summarizes President Brandon's "non-political" speech

Apparently Hunter's Dad gave what White House flaks called a "non-political" speech near Independende Hall in Philthydelphia yesterday. I didn't watch it. It was only carried by CNN and MSNBC which tells you all ye need to know right there.

That his "non-political" speech, supposedly on the topic of voting rights, took place right before Labour Day, the traditional kickoff time for political campaign season, also reveals Joe's real motive for coming out of his holiday home. The Democrats are shit-scared of losing control of Congress in November's midterm election, so clearly it was time to start stoking the fires of fear of a return of the Orange Man.

I'm grateful to Breitbart News for providing, on this morning's landing page, a summary of what Senile Joe's "non-political" speech was all about. Here are the headlines, with links.

        divisive speech
        about Trump

So much for Brandon's "non-political" speech. I can hardly wait for his political speech! 

As a further comment, I can't recall -- and my recollection stretches back to the Eisenhower days -- a sitting President ever slandering his predecessor in the way Mr Biden has slandered Mr Trump. The latter never excoriated the Prez (who richly deserved it) as he has been excoriated by Demented Joe, who I believe is suffering not just from incipient Alzheimer's, but from TDS.

During his speech, delivered from behind bullet-proof glass, President Brandon was continually hounded by protesters chanting "Let's go, Brandon" and "Fuck Joe Biden!" Siren noises, shouts and someone yelling on a bullhorn were audible in the background throughout the 25-minute rant.

The next couple of months should be interesting. Stay tuned.

Note from Ed.: Credit where credit is due. The image above was scraped from the Babylon Bee.

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

True Websites Dept - Lefties beg Brandon "Don't run Joe!"

If I hadn't read this on The Progressive Newswire [See? Walt does read something other than Breitbart! Ed.] I wouldn't have believed it. Seem that a key "progressive advocacy" (read: looney left) group, RootsAction.org, which supported President Brandon in 2022, has not only withdrawn its endorsement, but has now launched a new website called... wait for it... Don't Run Joe.

Really, and fie on those who believe Walt makes up our True Facts! RootsAction is planning on spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a #DontRunJoe ad campaign, set to begin the day after the Democrats are crushed in the 2022 midterms. 

Where the money is coming from, no-one knows, but I wouldn't bet against it being from someone whose initials are GS or KH.

Don't Run Joe  calls Brandon "neither bold nor inspiring", and invites those who share that sentiment to sign a petition telling Hunter's Dad not to run again, saying to do so would be a "tragic mistake." What follows is the complete text of their appeal.

In 2024 the United States will face the dual imperatives of preventing a Republican takeover of the White House and advancing a truly progressive agenda. The stakes could not be higher. The threat of a neofascist GOP has become all too obvious. Bold and inspiring leadership from the Oval Office will be essential.

Unfortunately, President Biden has been neither bold nor inspiring. And his prospects for winning re-election appear to be bleak. With so much at stake, making him the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer in 2024 would be a tragic mistake.

The #DontRunJoe campaign will launch nationwide on November 9, 2022 -- the day after the midterm elections. Until then, maximum efforts should be expended to defeat Republicans in congressional and state races across the country.

The shortcomings of the Biden administration should neither be denied nor used as an excuse to sit out the 2022 midterm election battles. "Moderate" policies have failed to truly address such pressing concerns as the climate emergency, voting rights, student debt, health care, corporate price-gouging, and bloated military spending in tandem with anemic diplomacy. Meanwhile, no Republican candidate on the horizon is worthy of being elected to any of the 435 House seats or the 35 Senate seats up for grabs this year.

Biden triumphed over Donald Trump in 2020 with vital help from extraordinary grassroots efforts in swing states by progressive organizations (including RootsAction). A president is not his party’s king, and he has no automatic right to renomination. Joe Biden should not seek it. If he does, he will have a fight on his hands.

I love it when the libtards start fighting amongst themselves, and wish RootsAction every success in their effort to get rid of Brandon. I'm hoping they secure the 2024 Dumbocrat nomination for Kamala Harris [Who she? Ed.] or possibly Dr Jill (no relation to Dr Phil), once she learns that Taco Bell is not a Mexican phone company. 

Further reading: "New York Times to Biden -- Time to Go!", by Patrick J. Buchanan, Taki's Magazine, 12/7/22. 

Note from Ed.: Because it seems appropriate, Walt has changed the ribbon in his computer to red to write the following FOOTNOTE: In case you missed the news, the Bidenflation rate has now increased to 9.1%, the highest level in four decades. Get ready to tighten your belt another notch. It's true: get woke, go broke!

Friday, June 3, 2022

Pragmatism trumps progressivism in Ontario election

Ed. here. Walt has sent us this report from somewhere north of the longer of America's undefended borders. 

As Ed. told you yesterday, the politics of the Canadian province4 of Ontario has been dominated for most of the post-WWII 20th century by a party with the oxymoronical name of "Progressive Conservative". A 42-year dynasty began just three days after Walt was born, ending only in June of 1985. 

The Liberals had their longest run from 2003 until 2018, when the government of proudly lesbian Kathleen Wynne was defeated by a political novice named Doug Ford, the little big [hardly! Ed.] brother of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford. The Liberals finished third, losing official party status. 

The question to be answered in yesterday's provincial election was: could Doug Ford, in spite of struggles with a faltering economy and the Covid "crisis", hang onto power? Here's the answer.


The "Ontario PCs" (the monker preferred by Mr Ford) won a second majority government, with twice as many seats as all the other parties combined! But wait, there's more.... The crushing victory forced the resignation of the leaders of the parties of the left and more-left. The Greens' Mike Schreiner held onto his own seat, and his position as "leader" of a party of one.

Andrea Horwath, leader of the socialistic "New" Democratic Party, was re-elected, but is stepping down as leader despite the party regaining Official Opposition status. Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca failed to regain the Vaughan-Woodbridge riding, and announced his immediate retirement. Although the Liberals won one (1) more seat than last time, they didn't meet the threshold for official party status in the Onterio legislature.

So what happened to the "progressive" parties who were touted by the lickspittle media as likely to reduce the Ford "Conservatives" to a minority? Goodness knows they pulled out all the stops in their efforts to bribe Ontario taxpayers with their own  money.

The Liberals, who occupy a place on the political spectrum roughly equivalent to that of the American Dumbocrats, offered a lengthy shopping list, free of any concern about cost, because of course the rich would pay "their fair share", and "efficiencies" would make up any shortfall. Their promises included: 
- a "buck-a-ride" for mass transit anywhere in the million-square-km province
- billions for "affordable" housing (especially for Indigenous people, to make reparations for the misdeeds of the evil colonizers)
- more billions for "assisted-living" and "social and community" housing (like council flats in the UK or "projects" in the USA)
- and still more for elder care, home care and hospital care.

But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's even more! Rent controls for anyone not covered by all the new housing; cheaper food; cheaper gasoline; cheaper daycare; new and better schools; a "dementia care" network to help people like Sleepy Joe Biden (if he moves to Canada after his long overdue retirement); more nurses, more surgeries, more mental health workers; more money for seniors, a possible four-day work week and "living wage" for all. All this would be paid for by, errr, someone else.

The NDP offered similar slices of pie in the sky, while saying that they thought of it first, and that they were the only party with a chance of defeating the "Conservatives". (Ms Horwath didn't specify the odds of that happening, which were about 100-1.)

For his part, Doug Ford, simply promised to get things done:
- build a new superhighway to make it easier to go around rather than through Toronto (a pretty good idea!)
- train more future workers, particularly skilled tradesmen [tradespersons? Ed.]
- make it easier for educated immigrants (with degrees) to practise their professions (there are enough "refugee" Uber drivers already)
- build more hospitals and expand the capacity of the province's health-care system.

The beauty of the PC plan -- if you could call "more of the same" a plan -- was that it consists primarily of things that are already budgeted for and in progress. Mr Ford promised no radical changes in policy or priorities. That's not who he is. He's uninterested in policy, and certainly not ideology. He's a politician of the "extreme centre", a middle-of-the-road guy, the epitome of pragmatism. And that, it seems, is exactly what the people of Ontario want.

There are lessons for both liberals and conservatives in Mr Ford's crushing of the leftist ideologues. Canada's federal Liberals and their NDP hangers-on should learn that large numbers of voters are fed up with ideology-driven tax-and-spend policies that benefit every minority and pressure group in sight, but not the silent majority who (along with their children and grandchildren) must pay the bills.

There are implications for the federal Conservatives too, as they search for a new leader. The current front-runner is Pierre Poilievre, who holds himself out as a real conservative, although "social conservatives" snort when they hear that. Mr Poilievre is the attack dog type, snarling and going for the throats of the feckless liberals, not a folksy retail politician like Doug Ford. 

If Canadian Conservatives are interested in beating the Trudeau Liberals, rather than just scoring debating points, they might look again at Jean Charest, l'homme d'hier. He's the type who would appeal to the mushy middle, and those are the people who gave Mr Ford two massive victories in a row, the second even greater than the first. 

The trouble is that if M Charest were to become prime minister, the people of Canada would be only marginally better off than they are now, through not having endure any more Trudeau virtue-signalling. What should you do if you're a conservative Canuck? Is a dilemma....

Quote of the day: "The premier’s guiding philosophy of Ford Nation combines populist rhetoric and conservative principles. It’s a concoction of lower taxes, reducing government interference, supporting individual rights and freedoms — and giving more power back to the people. These are ideas that many Ontarians, both conservative and non-conservative in ideology, strongly believe in and support." Michael Taube, in the National Post, 3/6/22.

Further reading: "Lessons from the Ontario election", by Warren Kinsella, Toronto Sun, 3/6/22. Subhead: Doug Ford won -- and won for his party and team -- because he is a HOAG: A Hell Of A Guy.

Monday, April 11, 2022

French presidential election: hold your applause

Ed. here. I was a little late getting in this morning, and failed to prevent Walt from committing the grave sin of combining two topics into one post. The Michael Matt video about Viktor Orbán and the "Current Thing" should have been separated from the preceding thoughts on yesterday's French election. For readers who went right to the video without reading what came before, here's what Walt had to say about the results... and what he thinks will happen on April 24th.

Frenchmen and women voted yesterday in the first round of the election for the preisdency of the French Republic. Walt rejoiced (see previous post) when Marine Le Pen fnished a strong second to "Effete Emmanuel" Macron, whom she will now face in the runoff election on April 24th. 

However, I must warn you, dear readers, to be careful how you bet. A superficial analysis of yesterday's result suggests that Mme Le Pen would have finished first, but for the candidacy of the extremist Eric Zemmour, who got a little over 7% of the vote. 

You would think his supporters would go to Mme Le Pen in the runoff. That would be fine, except that it would give Mme Le Pen about 31% of the vote, which would be far from enough to win a straight two-way fight. 

The likelihood of large numbers of centrists, leftists and Communists moving into the National Rally camp is slim. More likely is an ABLP coalition which would push M Macron into the Élysée Palace for a second term -- just as it did in 2015. Walt will be hoping (and praying!) otherwise, but betting? Nooooo....

Sunday, April 10, 2022

Aux Français! Votez aujoud'hui pour la France!


Polls have been open for over six  hours now for the first round of the French presidential election. President Emmanuel Macron, a member of the champagne liberal elite if ever there was one, is facing a strong challenge from National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, running a close second in the latest polls. Jean-Luc Melenchon, tribune of the loony left, is a distant third.

Difficult as this may be for Americans to understand, France operates a manual system for elections. Voters are required to present themselves in person, with photo ID. They place their ballots in envelopes which are then sealed and deposited in plexiglass ballot boxes. Once the polls close, votes will be counted by hand. What a concept!


With populist Viktor Orban winning a fourth consecutive term as Hungary's prime minister days ago, the eyes of the world -- or of Europe, at least -- have now turned to France's resurgent right, especially Mme Le Pen, who wants to ban Muslim headscarves in streets and halal and kosher butchers, and drastically reduce immigration from outside Europe. 

The French election has the potential to reshape the country's tarnished identity and indicate whether European populism is ascendant or in decline. Stay tuned. And if you're a French citizen, get out and vote for France!

UPDATE ADDED at 1320. Summary of BBC reports shows...
* Firm projections suggest Emmanuel Macron will face a run-off against Marine Le Pen in the second round of France's presidential election, to be held on April 24th. 
* M Macron comes first with 28.4% of the vote while Mme Le Pen receives 23.4%, according to national broadcaster France Télévision.
* Left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon comes in third place with about 20% of the votes.
* M Macron is addressing supporters in Paris. Mme Le Pen earlier vowed to put France "in order".

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

New poll shows Marine Le Pen would trounce leftists in 2022 election

In "Les mots prescients du Général de Gaulle" (WWW 31/3/21), Walt addressed these words to our many French readers: Est-ce que vous avez eu assez de... l'Europe? la globalisation? la diversité? l'inclusivité? la connerie?! If the answer is "Yes!" (I wrote), get up and stand with Marine Le Pen and the Rallye National!

Of course I'm not the only one saying such things. All those (and we are many) urging the people of the AABC countries and western Europe to reject globalization and multiculturalism, and vote for nationalism and the restoration of western civilization, will be happy to know that the people of France (at least) are listening, and preparing to do the right thing in 2022.

French lefties (and they are many) are soiling their pink-hued shorts today after the releast of a poll showing that in a second-round run-off of the 2022 French presidential elections, Marine Le Pen would defeat nearly all of the proposed left-wing candidates.

The poll, conducted by the polling firm Ifop, revealed that the leader of the Rallye National would soundly defeat several left-wing candidates such as far-left Jean-Luc Melenchon who would only score 40% of the vote if facing Mme Le Pen.

Europe1 reports that Environmentalist candidate Yannick Jadot would also lose to Mme Le Pen, while Anne Hidalgo, the left-wing mayor of Paris, was even -- 50-50 -- with the popular populist leader. The strongest candidate against Mme Le Pen would seem to be the centre-right (read: cuckservative) prospective candidate Xavier Bertrand, polled 59% to Mme Le Pen's 41%.

While the poll examined a variety of possible match-ups for the second round, it also revealed Marine Le Pen and incumbent Président Emmanuel Macron are most likely to advance to the second round in 2022, which means they would face each other once again in the run-off. The Ifop poll says that if the run-off were held today, Macron would beat Mme Le Pen, 55% to 45%.

As Walt sees it, French voters have a full year, yet, to recognize the threat to France and to western civilization posed by the continuation of rule by the one-world elites. Let me repeat... "Soulevez-vous! Confiance au Rallye National! Confiance à Marine Le Pen!"