Posts Tagged ‘election 2024’

“All My Contacts Are Dead”

Posted: March 3, 2024 by datechguy in election 2024, politics
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14 years ago this January Robert Stacy McCain was in Fitchburg Massachusetts with me covering the Scott Brown Race. Way back then he was a contributor to the HotAir GreenRoom and filed this report available now only through the wayback machine:

Annie DeMartino served 20 years as a city council member here before retiring from office last year. An Irish immigrant, she turned out in the snow to vote this morning in Ward 6 at St. Bernard’s Catholic School. A self-described “diehard Democrat,” DeMartino voted for Martha Coakley, but listen to what she says about the Senate election:

Alas the adobe video is not available but Annie’s key quote was: ‘Mr. Brown Has the Edge Today’

Well it’s almost fifteen years later and today at the supermarket I was in line waiting to order a sub for DaWife and who comes over to see me pushing her carriage but Annie DeMartino. She’s 87 years old but still helping those in need picking up a meal for a shut-in and volunteering at the senior center, which I am now old enough to go to if I wished.

The subject of the coming election came up with Super Tuesday two days away and she asked my opinion. I told her:

  1. I have no idea who is going to win
  2. It’s my opinion that the Democrats will replace Joe Biden on the ticket because now the media is ridiculing’s him in public

At that point I asked her what her contacts were saying as she was deep into democrat politics since the 1970’s and she answered: “All my contacts are dead.” This is what happens when you live long enough and she talked about how hard it can be when you outlive everybody you know.

I have no doubt that she will still pull the lever for Biden on Tuesday. There are a lot of people who have left the Democrat party as I did but no matter how much they talk “white privilege ” this Irishwoman who knows what poor really means and still carries her brogue isn’t about to be pushed out of HER party no matter who comes in saying what.

If the Democrat Party was still populated by folks like Annie rather than the loonies who run it now I suspect a lot of people who left might still be there.

Ends and Means Joe Biden Edition

Posted: February 21, 2024 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, election 2024
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Have you noticed that the same people on the left who are now all worried about Joe Biden being on the top of the ticket are the ones who helped push RFK Jr. out of the Democrat primary and did all they could to keep any other potential democrat challenger out of the race? In fact the reason why Iowa was bypassed and NH had to launch a write-in campaign for old Joe was because the Democrats desperate to make sure that no democrat challenged him, moved the first primary of the season out of the two traditional starting points because of fears that Joe would not do well.

Yet now after that successful campaign what are we seeing. Piece after piece and commentary after commentary from the left that Joe Biden needs to step aside.

Why? Because reality has begun asserting itself and the state of the country not to mention the state of Joe Biden can no longer be denied.

Make no mistake, the only driver of this change in heart is the change in the polls. As long as the dementia patient version of Joe Biden was polling well then it wouldn’t matter. In fact the Obama team that’s running the show is likely happy to keep Joe out of the loop.

But now their power is being threatened. They fear a result beyond the margin of theft and that fear is driving everything you see now.

I have no idea how this ends but if the polls continue the way they are I won’t be shocked if Joe Biden suddenly died in office due to old age. Such a thing is entirely plausible as most men his age are in fact dead but the level of coincidence in terms of timing, that will be….interesting.

Rep Talib: Bad Ends Right Means

Posted: February 20, 2024 by datechguy in Uncategorized
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As you might guess I’m not much of a fan of Representative Talib of Michigan. She is an ultra leftist anti-Semite who is wrong on almost every issue out there.

Her defense of Hamas is horrible although to be fair as a Palestinian brought up by Palestinians, I’m less shocked by the antisemitism than most because of what she has been taught all her life. It would be extraordinary if she wasn’t an anti-Semite and frankly coming from the district she represents it she likely would not be sitting in congress if she didn’t have her current opinions on Israel.

But while I strongly object to all of these things this story concerning her suggestion that Michigan Democrat voters protest Biden’s “support” for Israel by voting uncommitted in the Michigan primary is quintessentially American:

It’s early voting time in Michigan. On Saturday, Tlaib was outside a polling place, a civic center, and urged Michigan Democrats to show Biden they condemn his support of Israel in the Israel-Hamas war. The uncommitted movement tracks with her recent votes in Congress. She and fellow Squad member Rep.Cori Bush (D-MO) voted against banning Hamas terrorists from entering the United States. Tlaib was the only vote in the House to refuse to condemn the rape of women by Hamas. 

Any reader of this blog knows that I not only support Israel here but think that the destruction of Hamas is long overdue. I think she’s wrong and dead wrong.

In addition to being dead wrong she is going about advancing her dead wrong position in exactly the right way. In a republic if you have a position you wish political leaders to support what are you supposed to do? You energize a voting block to pressure pols to adopt the position you are trying to advance.

This is exactly how our system is supposed to work and as the Muslim population grows in the US and starts to outstrip other communities these methods are more likely to be effective. The fact that she is pushing for something horrible is not relevant to the method being used. Of course the irony that she is using this democratic method to support a group of people who violently exterminate any internal opposition is likely lost on her but that’s to be expected.

I suspect as the Tom Hagen math continues in Talib’s favor you will see a lot of Democrats walking away from Israel. With luck Hamas will be a footnote in history long before that date.

The Best MD Has in the Barn For Now

Posted: February 16, 2024 by datechguy in election 2024
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John Cleese: It was from such an unlikely beginning as an unwanted fungus accidentally growing on a sterile plate that Sir Alexander Fleming gave the world penicillin. James Watt watched an ordinary household kettle boiling and conceived the potentiality of steam power. Would Albert Einstein ever have hit upon the theory of relativity if he hadn’t been clever? All these tremendous leaps forward have been taken in the dark. Would Rutherford ever have split the atom if he hadn’t tried? Could Marconi have invented the radio if he hadn’t by pure chance spent years working at the problem? Are these amazing breakthroughs ever achieved except by years and years of unremitting study? Of course not. What I said earlier about accidental discoveries must have been wrong. 

Monty Python’s Flying Circus A Book at Bedtime 1973

For a very long time there was basically one book on the Falklands War that existed. It was The Battle for the Falklands by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins. It came out in 1984 only two years after the war and has sat on a bookshelf in my home for around 25 or 30 years.

One of the things that struck me from the book was a bit was something that one of the British special services officers mentioned concerning training. It seemed that various nations just wouldn’t believe that it was training and hard work that make them what they were. To paraphrase what he said the various nations militaries all think there is some kind pill they can take if only you would tell them what it is.

I thought of that when I saw the negative reaction to the former Maryland Gov Larry Hogan running for the Senate in the state and when I saw these pols indicating that he may have an easy time of it in that deep blue state:

Note the numbers. He is +7 in a state where Biden is +23 and this makes an important point that needs to be remembered.

If you want to have a strong conservative running in a state, you have to have a state where people understand that conservatism means a better life for them and their families. There will be more responsibility but not only is the potential greater but as a state becomes more successful there will actually be more actual money to build a safety net for those who can’t climb.

Maryland is not such a state, but IT CAN BE.

The problem is you don’t turn a state via a National election or even a Statewide election. In fact even a state legislature race doesn’t do the job, at least not at first.

What you have to do is get strong conservative at the school committee and city/town/ward council levels. Someone local and known who national and state parties will have trouble demonizing. Have them apply conservative solutions to local problems, from the basics in education to the broken windows theory in law enforcement.

As these solutions work such people can seek higher office with a record of success while folks inspired by said success replace them at that bottom rung.

That’s the real work of building a party and convincing people that they will have a better life.

It’s not easy, there will be pushback and of course it takes time but when you do that the end result is model schools, model neighborhoods and successful towns and cities and that is how you turn a country and then a state.

In a state like this. You would not have to settle for a Larry Hogan to carry the GOP banner. There would be a solid bench of conservatives who the public trusts who could run and win given the GOP the ability to prevent leftist judges from reaching the bench and having a reliable conservative vote when you need it.

Alas that day is not yet here. So until we have a party ready and willing to do the heavy lifting to change hearts and minds my suggestion.

Let’s get Behind Mr. Hogan, get the senate majority and be happy to get a 70-30 guy in a state where the GOP has no business having a senator and work for the day when Mr. Hogan can be upgraded to a stronger conservative.

And if we aren’t willing to do the work then let’s be grateful that we can manage even him.

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