Year: 2006

Question: It would seem that the Left listens to their bloggers closer than the Right does. (See also Ned Lamont.) Do you agree, or is this merely perception? — Lou Moran Answer: I do agree that the left pays more attention to its bloggers, although that’s changing a bit. As far as I could tell, […]

Imagine if, day in and day out, every week for a month, you heard nothing but lousy stories about Toyotas. One day you hear that they’re prone to flip over. The next day it’s a mystery explosion. The next day you hear about the dealers using faulty parts. A couple of days later, the wheels […]

Democrats are planning to meet with George McGovern to try to figure out how to surrender to the terrorists in Iraq by June: George McGovern, the former senator and Democratic presidential candidate, said Thursday that he will meet with more than 60 members of Congress next week to recommend a strategy to remove U.S. troops […]

Today will be Q&A Friday #53 at RWN. So, if there’s a subject you’ve been wanting me to tackle or an issue you want to hear my opinion on, just ask your question in the comments section. Your question can be about politics, ideology, history, blogging, RWN, from a liberal, conservative, or libertarian perspective; heck, […]

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called U.S. President George W. Bush’s defeat in congressional elections a victory for Iran. Bush has accused Iran of trying to make a nuclear bomb, being a state sponsor of terrorism and stoking sectarian conflict in Iraq, all charges Tehran denies. “This issue (the elections) is not […]

For whatever it’s worth — which is probably not very much — here’s who I’m rooting for to take control in some of these leadership positions in the House: Mike Pence for Minority Leader: Other than on illegal immigration, he’s like a young Newt Gingrich. While his illegal immigration position is a reason for concern, […]

Domestic Hoyer, Murtha Battle For Leadership Post George McGovern, The Former Senator And Democratic Presidential Candidate, Said Thursday That He Will Meet With More Than 60 Members Of Congress Next Week To Recommend A Strategy To Remove U.S. Troops From Iraq By June Iraqi President Says Democrats Told Him They Will Not Pull Out Quickly […]

Earlier today, I frowned on the idea of seeing Mike Pence move into a leadership position, despite the fact that he’s a hard nosed, reform minded, fiscal conservative, because Pence proposed an absolutely horrible amnesty plan last session. Well, there’s been some news on that front. I have gotten confirmation from a highly trusted source […]

A political party should have a set of abiding principles that will help guide its representatives towards where they should stand on the issues. If members of that party lose sight of those principles, it becomes all too easy for them to simply make bad decisions based on the shifting political winds of the moment. […]

After the sort of crushing loss that the GOP experienced on Tuesday, it seems to be very natural to reach out to new leadership in the House and Senate. However, I’m not sure that some of the “new faces” running for leadership positions would be much of an improvement. For example, Mike Pence is going […]

My pal Ivy J. Sellers over at Human Events wrote an article called Conservatism Was Not Defeated and while I agree with 98% of what she wrote, I have a problem with the title of the piece, even though the sentiments it expresses have been commonly heard around the blogosphere since the election. Sure, Republicans […]

I like John Podhoretz, but the spin he’s trying to get over here could not possibly be more wrong: “Hey, gang of 14 haters. With Republicans in the minority, can you say right now you’re sorry that the Senate rules still allow for a filibuster?” #1) Because the Republicans in the Senate foolishly refused to […]

In his latest column, Brian Maloney writes: “Even before the final returns had come in last night, it was clear that Republicans had been handed a defeat in the House of Representatives and if they do manage to hang on to the Senate, it will be by a thread, at best. Clearly ticked off at […]

There is already speculation now that John Bolton is going to get the ax next because there’s no way that the Democrats will ever agree to confirm him. But, Bolton isn’t a political liability and he’s done a fine job at the UN. So, instead of canning him, why shouldn’t Bush publicly urge the Democrats […]

“The Republicans lost and the Democrats won for the same reason — they distanced themselves from their base.” — Dave S. from Tim Blair’s comment section Via Instapundit & Eject!Eject!Eject!

Domestic Dems Complete Election Sweep of Congress Dennis Hastert: The Republican Leader In The 110th Congress Will Have The Responsibility To Emphasize Conservative Values And Reform Principles. I Will Not Seek This Role Trent Lott Making Comeback as Whip (Oh, Good Grief) Some Republican Leadership Musings From Rich Lowry William “Mr. Freeze” Jefferson Advances To […]

There were a lot of factors that played into the GOP’s crushing loss last night. The most important of them are as follows: Bush’s Approval Rating: Unfortunately, George Bush seems to be operating under the assumption that his approval rating is irrelevant since he doesn’t have to run for office again. On issue after issue, […]

When Donald Rumsfeld became Secretary of Defense, he made an effort to change the military into a faster, sleeker force more capable of dealing with the sort of post Cold-War battles that we’re likely to fight today. Combine the sort of bureaucratic infighting that effort surely prompted with the fact that Rumsfeld is an extremely […]

I just got off of a teleconference with Congressman Jeff Flake and Pat Toomey from the Club for Growth. Here are my notes (not quotes) from the teleconference: Jeff Flake: This disastrous election we just had wasn’t a result of the war or the Foley scandal, it was because we as a party need a […]

A little earlier, I was in on a teleconference with Congressman Jack Kingston and quite a few other bloggers. Here are some notes (not quotes) about what Kingston had to say: — Lessons learned: We’ve got to go back to the Contract with America. We’ve got to have a clear platform. — I don’t think […]

I estimated the GOP would lose 5 seats in the Senate and 22-29 in the House. Unfortunately, it looks like I was a touch too optimistic. Here’s a short comparison of my initial analysis to the actual results: State: Michigan Competitors: Debbie Stabenow (D) vs. Mike Bouchard (R) My Analysis: 90/10 — Likely Democratic Retention. […]

Since WWII, the party of the incumbent President has typically lost more than 30 seats in the House of Representatives and six seats in the Senate during the second midterm. In addition, in the five wartime congressional elections since 1860, the President’s party has lost an average of 32 House seats and five Senate seats.” […]

There was precious little good news last night for Republicans, but there are a few pieces of silver lining shining out through the clouds: — The netroots favorite candidate, Ned Lamont, lost to Joe Lieberman in what could fairly be called a referendum on the war in Iraq. — Lincoln Chafee lost and other than […]

There was not a lot of good news on the Rightroots front last night (Only 2 out of 21 of our candidates won), but I guess that’s to be expected in a year where no Republican challengers to Democratic incumbents in the House or Senate managed to get elected: Here’s the breakdown of how the […]

Sheldon Whitehouse has knocked off Lincoln Chafee. It’s hard to get too upset about that one since Chafee was genuinely to the left of center and didn’t even vote for Bush in 2004. Good riddance to bad rubbish on that one. That means the other three key races to watch are Allen in VA, Burns […]

Via Rich Lowry at The Corner: Here’s information from a chart that GOP insiders…are using as a cheat sheet Eight in the most likely gone category: PA-7, Weldon, OH-18, Ney open, IN-8, Hostettler, CO-7 Beauprez open, AZ-8, Kolbe open, NY-24, Boehlert open, PA-10, Sherwood, CT-4, Shays. Eight in the expect to lose most of these […]

Short Answer To The Question phrased in the title: Yes, but it’s unlikely. Long Answer: The available polling data seems to show that the GOP is going to lose the House and almost all the political analysts out there agree with that assessment. However, there is a small glimmer of hope for the GOP. Right […]

I called in just a touch late to a teleconference with RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman today and for whatever reason, it took the attendant like 5 minutes to actually put me on with Ken. So, I missed his early remarks. Still, here’s what Ken had to say (These are notes, not quotes, and many of […]

Senate Robert Novak: GOP -2 Mary Matalin: GOP -3 Election Projection: GOP -3 to -4 Republican Pollster Richard Wirthlin: GOP -4 John Tabin: GOP -4 Fred Barnes: GOP -4 Republican Pollster Steve Lombardo: GOP -4 Cook Political Report: GOP -4 to -6 Stuart Rothenberg: GOP -4 to -7 Tucker Carlson: GOP -5 Paul Weyrich: GOP […]