With Scott Brown leading Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, 2008 obituaries for New England Republicanism sound premature
When Chris Shays of Connecticut, the last New England Republican in the House, lost his seat in 2008 pundits said it marked the end of Republicanism in the Northeast.
Yet Republican Scott Brown is leading Democrat Martha Coakley in polls on tomorrow’s special election in Massachusetts. Optimism for Brown’s candidacy stands in stark contrast to those, after the 2008 election, wrote the Republican Party’s New England obituary:
“There is no place in the GOP now for the moderates and they need to find a home. The brand is dead in New England.”
- Thomas Whalen, a political historian at Boston University, told the Associated Press, Nov. 9, 2008
“The demographics of America are changing in a way that is deadly for the Republican Party as it exists today. A GOP ice age is on the way.”
- Republican strategist Mike Murphy, said in Time Magazine, Jun. 22, 2009
“So, it’s a problem for [Republicans] because what they’re realizing is that they’re a southern regional rump party that their leadership is heavily based in the South and the rest of the country is sort of looking at them and wondering what the heck is going on down there?”
- Liberal blogger Markos Moulitas of Daily Kos on NBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, July 31, 2009
“We’ve got too many Jim DeMints and Tom Coburns. It’s the Southerners … The party’s being taken over by Southerners.”
- Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, referencing Republican senators from South Carolina and Oklahoma, as reported by the Star Ledger in New Jersey, July 30, 2009
“The Rockefeller Republicans? They’re dead. These guys have been so banished. Chris Shays is walking around as a caucus of one.”
- University of Vermont political science professor Garrison Nelson told the Boston Globe before Shays the lone New England Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, lost his seat
(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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BARACK OBAMA AND THE “CURSE” OF THE KENNEDYS
When Caroline Kennedy believed that she heard the voice of her father in the words of Barack Obama and anointed him the “new JFK” with her uncle Ted and 15 family members Obama’s fate was sealed: The “Curse” of the Kennedys was upon him.
Google ApolloSpeaks (one word) and read my small new blogbook: Barack Obama and the “Curse” of the Kennedys.
The northeast in general is getting more like the way New York City has been dating back to the days of Roosevelt, in that a Republican’s only real chances of winning office occur when the Democrats control the state and national offices and have nobody to blame their problems on credibly to the (Democrat-leaning) electorate. It’s the same effect that resulted in Giuliani winning in New York (and Christie Todd Whitman in New Jersey) in 1993.
All the Republicans need for a comeback are authentic people attached to principle. The elderly John McCain, a friend and ally to Teddy Kennedy, was exactly the kind of candidate calculated to produce a lukewarm turnout by the center-right. He was as economically illiterate as Obama and as unreliable as Voinovich and Spector. Throw in George Bush, a big government Republican, and you have all the explanation you need for the Democrat win in 2008.
Just as Obama was swept into office as the “anti” Bush, Brown may sweep into office as the “anti” Obama. Brown is the better candidate, in my opinion — AND the Dems were overly confident that any Dem they put in Teddy’s old spot would win. Big mistake. BUT if Brown wins, the Republicans should be careful to not assume that all is well.
The Republicans need to rebuild the trust of the American people. A win tomorrow would be a start. ALL politicians would be wise to realize that earning a spot is not the same as deserving it. It is the work that comes after that really matters.
““There is no place in the GOP now for the moderates and they need to find a home. The brand is dead in New England.””
What a difference a progressive President trying to remake America from the inside out, can make on the “Republican brand”.
Bob McDonnell, Chris Christie and now Scott Brown have shown the way!
ELECT SCOTT BROWN!
To take its place the MSM is now writing the obituaries for anyone associated with the TEA Party movement. It’s a little premature to write any one/thing off due to the current political environment surrounding DC.