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As you might expect, we’re in a celebratory mood this week as Rob, Peter, and Troy Senik (James is off this week) recap, react and analyze the results from this week’s mid-terms. Is this the start of a Reagan-esque Republican renaissance or just a glitch in the Matrix? Also, what Ricochet relative correctly predicted the stunning victory in the Maryland governor’s race? Finally, come on down newly minted Ricochet member Bodiazrising — your post Local Elections Are No Fluke is this week’s Member Post of The Week. Thanks for playing, everyone!
P.S. We’re off next week for the National Review cruise. See you in two weeks!
Music from this week’s episode:
Back In Saddle Again by Gene Autry
The opening sequence for the Ricochet Podcast was composed and produced by James Lileks.
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That’s Vol. 5 Number XLI.
Peter: You misquoted George Will, who did not call the recent midterm “a Seinfeld election.” Replying to a viewer comment on Facenook on Fox News Sunday, he said:
He said that the viewer was calling it that. He continued to say:
Video of the remark can be found here.
I stand corrected, Elephas. Thank you.
Fred Cole? Was Kenneth busy?
Harshness…
Okay, Ya’ll need to get off the Susanna Martinez bandwagon right now.
Fact: New Mexico ranks DEAD LAST in educational achievement having recently surrendered the coveted 49th place to Mississippi.
Fact: New Mexico ranks DEAD LAST in job creation.
Fact: New Mexico ranks 2nd in the rate of people living in poverty at 22%.
Fact: New Mexico receives more federal aid per capita than any state in the union.
However, promoting Martinez to the national ticket will pave the way for my own gubernatorial run on the slogan “I can guarantee results like these for half the price: Vote Mugwump.”
Had I the day off instead of toiling away in the truck…
Hmmn, I’ve been deleting the Daily Shot as SPAM, figuring I’ll read the site when I get tom it. I suppose I could look at it once.
Please do!
Okay, what’s y’all’s problem with Martinez? Y’all’s “Facts” are not her doin’. Y’all’d do better to examine the patron legislature a-la Manny Aragon here (one house of which switched narrowly Tuesday, so we’ll see).
Richardson looted this place after serious improvements under Johnson.
Federal “aid” is high here, yes. But may you be conflating “aid” with spending? We have two national labs, one of which is on one of three serious military bases.
Arizona and New Mexico were cleaved from one territory. Both have similar resources, climate, etc. You could do a North/South Korea, Haiti/Dominican Republic, East/West Germany. Politics here… what’s a nice word?
Martinez is a significant step in the right direction.
I figured out Fred must be writing it when he started acting all weird about it.
Terrific podcast. I plan to steal the phrase “party of homeowners’ associations.” We need to introduce that phrase into the language.
Maybe Harry’s wants to do home delivery of milk and bread?
By “weird” you mean “very enthusiastic”?
I really like the Daily Shot, and its breezy, chuckling writing style! I wondered who was writing it, I didn’t think they’d let us in on that. Great job, Fred!
I’ve come to enjoy the Daily Shot. Nice job, Fred.
BTW, that gif reminds me that Claudia Wells was very, very cute.
No, I mean like asking people what they thought about it, repeatedly asking them to sign up, posting links just to the sign up despite there being a link to it right on the front page, and asking me several times why I didn’t sign up or want to be auto-added to it. You were way too obsessive about it to not have some involvement in it, but I didn’t think they’d have you writing the whole thing.
Fred, great job with the Shot. Only one problem… Who checks email anymore?
OK, I’ve listened to about 25 minutes and I need to say something… This idea that this election is simply a repudiation of Obama and the last six years is just wrong. I mean it is, of course, but it’s also a repudiation of Bush. And the last 100 years. This was a mainstreaming of the Tea Party and Occupy movements.
Those of you so tightly entwined with politics are missing the real world.
Republicans and Democrats care about the battle between Republicans and Democrats. Political junkies care about Obama.
Voters care about their gut. And their guts are sick. Because nobody is listening to them.
In other words, the division between the parties is a different division than the division between the citizens. The Buckley/Reagan conservatism standing athwart the FDR/LBJ Liberalism just doesn’t apply anymore but the parties are operating as if it does. If the Republicans want to be the party of the future they need to take an honest look at what this election actually represents.
I have been getting the Shot every morning, but after reading Jim Geraghty’s Morning Shot I had little interest. This morning I read it through before listening to the podcast, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I will, henceforth, read it daily. Thank you, Fred, for taking it on.
Lots of talk about various voting blocs but I didn’t hear anything about non-Hispanic White voters. To explain why the polls underestimated Republican strength, on average by 4-6%, we might want to look at the largest cohort, the White voter.
Try these small items:
-In 2008 Kay Hagan won 60% of white voters under 30 years old. Her opponent, Liddy Dole got 36%. In 2014 Hagan dropped 28 points to 32% among whites under 30. Tillis captured 56% while the Libertarian got 12% with that group.
-In 2008 Mary Landrieu got 33% of the White vote. This year she got 18%. If you were wondering why the Democrats have pulled all funding for the LA run-off… well, a candidate that can only muster 18% of the White vote is all you need to know.
It’s more fun to talk about the shifting Asian vote, better numbers with Hispanics, turnout, or anything else but people of pallor I suppose but the reason why there was what Joe Manchin called an “ass whuppin’ ” Tuesday night was White voters casting votes for R’s instead of D’s. Many of these were “independents” as Casey points out above. And,”Independent” is not synonymous with “Moderate.”
The good news for Republicans is that the Democrats will not do what it takes to bring these voters back. Warren? Hillary? No. Rob’s right about what it would take, although Hickenlooper isn’t the guy. But a James Webb/ Joe Manchin type who can honestly talk about good jobs for American workers could get traction with blue collar whites who gave up on Democrats Tuesday.
Edit: Sorry for the runaway underlining. I feel like George Jetson screaming for Jane to stop this crazy thing.
Love the Daily Shot! What a distinctive voice, Fred! I find this be a nice complement to Geraghty’s and Domenech’s newsletters, which I still receive and enjoy.
Two things:
1) Illinois passed SSM through regular legislative process last year — prior to Posner’s 7th Circuit decision which only dealt with IN and WI.
2) “One big homeowners association.” LOL Loved it!
P.S. Two thumbs up for bringing Fred on.
To the extent that abortion and same sex marriage have been settled, it has been by judicial ukase, not legislative action. Neither enjoy a truly broad base of active support, or even grudging support. Passive acquiescence by the majority of people who are more concerned about other things is more like it.
Saying in 2014 that the culture war over abortion and same sex marriage is over [because the judges have spoken] is a little like saying in 1858 that the culture war over chattel slavery is over because of the Dred Scott decision.
Regarding Scott Walker and whether he has the “gravitas” to be a plausible Head of State: Need I remind you people that Al [redacted] Gore won the national popular vote in 2000?!
Might be nice to have a campaign manager of one of the winning gubernatorial races on for a post-mortem. I think the model and messaging used for the Hogan campaign in Maryland would be instructive in discussing a winning strategy for the 2016 presidential election. Jobs, middle class families, and the economy. That’s what Hogan ran on, that’s what he decisively won on.
Let me just add my kudos, too: Great job, Fred — no, Superb job. Thanks for taking up this task. You are perfectly chosen for this. Thanks Rob and Peter.
Fred, you gotta admit that it’s damn nice to be associated with Rob and Peter. This is something you will have on your resume for the rest of your life — that you personally know them and worked with them. You have hit the big time. Congratulations.
Peter,
Completely agree with you on Will though you misquoted him. He seems to have lost something on the fastball since joining Fox News. For instance, his comment that Brat beat Cantor due to the issue of the Export-Import Bank.
A great, bracing podcast. A good example of the level of discussion you can reach without a celebrity guest. “Open casket” and “homeowners association”… acerbic, funny, and true.
Troy is really sharp. I know he has his hands (ears) full in Law Talk, but he should be on the flagship once a month, at least.
It’s terrific Fred. I am enjoying it tremendously. Thank you.