WataugaWatch

Katy at Katy's Conservative Corner has the fix for the North Carolina Republican Party's woes: root out moderate Republicans.

And here we were worried that they might go all sane and stuff.

(Yes, we realize Katy's prescription is a month old. We must have missed it at the time and thank PPP for bringing it to the top of the discard pile.)

Good luck to Katy and her fellow Republican conservatives on that uprooting project! We have extra shovels, if that helps.

Labels: 2008 election results, Katy's Conservative Corner, North Carolina Republican Party

We reported a couple of days ago about Erick Erickson's notable mixing of metaphors over at RedState ... in calling for a "purge of the deadwood" in the conservative movement. Erickson intimated that he was personally on the lookout for "fake conservatives" who might be first in line for purging, though he wasn't yet ready to begin naming names.

Michael Medved apparently decided to out himself. Erick Erickson, meet Michael Medved, conservative dead wood. Medved (for the record) is listed as the eighth most influential right-wing radio talker. He used to guest-host for Limbaugh pretty regularly, until he got his own show. Before that he reviewed movies.

In today's USA Today, Medved says that right-wing talk radio is spewing way too much trash to an increasingly small audience and that maybe that isn't the most productive course to take following the disaster of November 4. Figuring out how to rebuild a credible political opposition to deal with Obama constitutes no less than an "existential challenge."

Oooo ... existentialism! We're tingling all over already, mainly because Medved actually gets it. The universe has reoriented itself, and he & Limbaugh & Hanity & O'Reilly & the four & 20 other blackbirds baked in the Talk Radio Pie aren't the masters of this new domain ... because, see, existentialism starts with "a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world."

For a black socialist (and most liberal senator) with the middle name of Hussein to win the presidency with 365 electoral votes ... well, that's just absurd. What's a right-wing radio talker to say, huh?

Saith Medved: "Depending on responses from leading conservative talkers, this rude, raucous indispensable medium [talk radio] will either rise to new heights of mainstream influence, profit and credibility, or else collapse as a declining vehicle for an increasingly angry and alienated fringe."

Judging from our own local small-potatoes example, "On the Right Side" with Jim Goff and Jim Hastings on WATA, they're going whole hog for the "increasingly angry and alienated fringe," an audience that will comfortably fit, say, in any standard-size SUV. "On the Right Side" has recently reinstated "Tolerate This!" as its on-air theme song. The ditty has lyrics that Medved would blanch at but which the increasingly angry and alienated fringe apparently laps up. For one small, SUV-type example:

Tolerate this! I believe in driving the biggest car I can

We reckon this is what Medved calls cultivating "a niche audience rather than the Republican mainstream," because even the conservative Republicans we know (those who still speak to us) realize that the massive consumption of petroleum is just not a viable societal option any more, let alone a feasible political pitch.

Not that we want the angry white guy act to slack off! Far better to purge the Michael Medveds from the party. You betcha.

Labels: 2008 election results, conservative movement, Erick Erickson, Michael Medved

The Republican Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, oft-mentioned these days as a potential new leader of the disgraced GOP, opines about the future of his party at Politico.com and not only agrees with other leaders who are calling for MORE conservatism but also ups the ante slightly by dissing El Presidente's "compassionate conservatism" as mere window-dressing that didn't fool anybody and by actually calling for a purge of moderate or "fake conservative" elements in the party. He doesn't name names, naturally, but we wonder who he's talking about. Could it be Sen. John McCain who needs ousting? Maybe the two Maine senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, whose "moderation" famously led them to vote against the conviction of Pres. Bill Clinton in his impeachment.

If it would be of any help to Gov. Sanford and his fellow travelers, we would be glad to begin work on a short list of prominent Republicans who look suspiciously non-doctrinaire, "persons of interest" whose very presence in the GOP is simply (probably) holding everybody back.

We'll also be glad to hold the governor's coat while he leads the ritual stoning.

Labels: 2008 election results, Mark Sanford, National Republican Party

Ridiculous racists across the South apparently feel that the Obama victory on November 4 was their call to expose their ridiculousness to a national audience. The Charlotte Observer has a story up this a.m. about nasty outbreaks of racist opinion, including one at N.C. State University, but no mention of similar expressions reported at Appalachian State University. Democracy Now of the High Country has that story.

Labels: 2008 election results, Appalachian State University, racism

"Paranoia On the Rise, Experts Say" is the AP headline that was sure to catch my eye this a.m.

"People walk around with odd thoughts all the time," said David Penn, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina. "The question is if that translates into real behavior."

"Real behavior"? You know, like tinfoil hats donned for indoor wear. Like taking an Uzi to work with you.

No doubt that real events like 9/11 and manipulative propaganda like El Presidente's "war on terror" have heightened anxieties for the last seven years. But no mention of what the election of our first African-American president might have wrought in the narrow synapses of some of our citizens.

Labels: 2008 election results, paranoia

At least in the South, which -- let's face it -- IS the Republican Party of the future ... leaders of the party will most definitely NOT follow the advice of this former speech writer for Ronald Reagan.

Jeffrey Hart sez ... these discredited Bushian policies must be dropped:

Iraq

banning abortion

the block on stem cell research

income tax cuts for the wealthy

attaching Social Security to the Stock Market (privatization)

repatriating 12 million illegal immigrants instead of offering them a road to citizenship ("amnesty")

Sez Jeffrey Hart:

A major -- perhaps insoluble -- problem conservatives face is that the aggressive "social conservatism" of the Republican base and its activists does not appeal to moderates and independent voters.

Getting more specific, Jeffrey Hart sez:

First, the Republican party must distance itself from evangelicalism as the policy preferences of evangelicals have only minority support....

Second, the Republican party must drop its hostility to science:

Bush blocked federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and advocated teaching intelligent design along with evolution. Teaching intelligent design? Where? Biology class? Not since the 1920s has evolution been a subject of political controversy. Astonishing. Now it is controversial again because we are in what historians describe as the third evangelical awakening.

Third, and to put it simply, the Republican party finds itself on the wrong side of history and in opposition to history, like the freedom of women over themselves and their bodies.

4. Movement conservatism is dead. Not acknowledging that would in itself be fatal.

Labels: 2008 election results, National Republican Party

Apparently, God turned a little bit blue on Tuesday.

Labels: 2008 election results, religion and politics

Charlotte's first black mayor Harvey Gantt was also North Carolina's first state-wide black candidate in the 20th century when he ran against Sen. Jesse Helms in 1990 and came close. He tried again in 1996, less successfully.

Despite two losses, Gantt really deserves credit for energizing progressive forces in NC. In fact, it was the Gantt-Helms race in 1990 that gave birth to the "new" Democratic Party in Watauga County. One could draw a straight line from Gantt organizers in Watauga in 1990 to the Democratic sweeps here in 2004, 2006, and 2008.

Interviewed by Rob Christensen in the N&O, Gantt recognized the changes in NC demographics since his first run for the Senate:

"I think it means the nature ... of North Carolina has changed substantially from those races in the 1990s. It's a younger population. It's a much more moderate population. The urban centers are much more influential in terms of North Carolina -- Charlotte, the Triangle, the Triad, Wilmington and Asheville."

When Gantt first ran in 1990, Christensen points out, there were 3.3 million registered voters; today there are 6.2 million.

Labels: 2008 election results, Harvey Gantt, Rob Christensen

Commissioner of Agriculture

Ronnie Ansley (D) 1,941,167 (47.95%)
Steve Troxler (R), incumbent 2,107,270 (52.05%)

Commissioner of Labor

Mary Fant Donnan (D) 1,993,251 (49.40%)
Cherie Berry (R), incumbent 2,042,059 (50.60%)

Supreme Court Associate Justice

Robert H. (Bob) Edmunds Jr. (R), incumbent 1,562,453 (51.02%)
Suzanne Reynolds (D) 1,499,978 (48.98%)

NC Court of Appeals

John S. Arrowood (D), incumbent 1,319,800 (46.32%)
Robert N. (Bob) Hunter Jr. (R) 1,529,583 (53.68%)

It's a shame about these two judge races. Bob Edmunds is a partisan Republican, famous in 2008 for uttering the words (and in Watauga County, too!) that he was all there was standing between good God-fearing North Carolinians and (eek!) godless Democrats. Words to that effect. Anyway, everyone who heard him knew what he meant.

If it's a shame about the judges, it's a disgrace about the Agriculture and Labor commissioners. Putting the Elevator Lady back in office, following the manifold scandals of her failures as a workplace regulator, defies expectations as well as logic. Troxler is the best friend Monsanto has ever had in NC and seems to think it's just fine to gas farm workers, as long as they're poor and migratory.

There are almost 50,000 provisional ballots in NC that won't be certified and counted until next week (which is why the state has not been called for Obama yet, though he's leading). The estimate is that as many as 65% of those provisionals will end up being counted, and about the same percentage of the ones ruled eligible will be Democratic ballots ... not enough, probably, to change any of the close races above.

Labels: 2008 election results, Cherie Berry, Steve Troxler

Check out this array of front pages from all across North Carolina yesterday ... assembled by the North Carolina Press Association.

Labels: 2008 election results

Although Roy Carter carried Watauga County against the incumbent Republican congresswoman by 2,000 votes, exactly doubling the number by which she lost this county in 2006, he was swamped in all the other ten counties. Foxx's lowest percentage of the vote in all but Watauga was the 54.71% she drew in Ashe, but, here, see for yourself:

Watauga

Carter 14,727 (53.69%)
Foxx 12,702 (46.31%)

Ashe

Carter 5,944 (45.29%)
Foxx 7,180 (54.71%)

Wilkes

Carter 11,194 (38.05%)
Foxx 18,223 (61.95%)

Alexander

Carter 5,934 (34.96%)
Foxx 11,042 (65.04%)

Alleghany

Carter 2,264 (42.85%)
Foxx 3,019 (57.15%)

Surry

11,491 (39.52%)
17,583 (60.48%)

Yadkin

Carter 5,324 (31.49%)
Foxx 11,584 (68.51%)

Stokes

Carter 7,810 (36.23%)
Foxx 13,749 (63.77%)

Forsyth

Carter 48,123 (45.10%)
Foxx 58,589 (54.90%)

Davie

Carter 6,394 (32.13%)
Foxx 13,508 (67.87%)

Iredell

Carter 14,612 (43.67%)
Foxx 18,851 (56.33%)

Rockingham

Carter 879 (28.16%)
Foxx 2,243 (71.84%)

What can you say about numbers like that? Well, actually, a couple of things:

1. One can certainly tell the counties where there's Democratic Party organization (even vestigial efforts): Ashe, Wilkes, Alleghany, Surry, Forsyth, Iredell. And the counties where there's nothing much going on. For a Democrat to be successful in the 5th district, someone is going to have to organize those counties. It's not impossible. A core group of even a dozen people in each county, if they're dedicated to the effort, could move those mountains. Overcoming defeatism would be a fundamental first step (maybe try drugs?).

2. Unless we're willing to accept The Madam for life (and we hear she's not scheduled for the sod until approximately 2050), then we need to recognize that a presidential year is the worst possible time to retire her. That's not what some of us thought going into 2008. We foresaw a Democrat (any Democrat) winning the White House, but we underestimated the relentless, robotic march of the Republicans in all counties listed above save one. When the presidency is at stake, you can forget moving the 5th District, even if every Republican is hitching rides to the polls from the County Poorhouse.

3. That makes 2010 look all the more interesting, if # 1 above could also be achieved.

4. Money. The Carter campaign was always cash-strapped, and it proved that even without resources it could get a shudder out of the incumbent by simply publicizing her record, which is largely unknown in the 5th Dist. and hugely debilitating to the well being of its citizens.

5. Foxx will not change. She hates the people who oppose her and will not reach out to them. Witness her complete absence from any venue where ordinary citizens might ask her an unwelcome question. That is her greatest weakness. That and her hard-hearted conservatism in a changing environment where excessive partisanship is going to seem increasingly unattractive.

Labels: 2008 election results, Roy Carter, Virginia Foxx

Tarleton carried both his counties (Watauga & Ashe) in his first reelection victory, even despite the fact that this presidential thing drew 200 more straight-ticket Republican voters in Ashe than Democratic straight-ticket voters. But Tarleton edged Soucek even in Ashe (6,376 to 6,046) and whupped him badly in Watauga (14,333 to 11,718), where Democratic straight-ticket voters far outnumbered Republicans punching a straight-ticket:

Straight-Ticket Voting, Watauga

Dem 7,157
Rep 6,043

Straight-Ticket Voting, Ashe

Dem 2,436
Rep 2,620

Tarleton's win is all the more notable because the 1,597 votes that Libertarian candidate Jeff Cannon drew, even if every last one of them had gone to Soucek, it wouldn't have changed the outcome.

Both Tarleton and Sen. Steve Goss have given their northwestern NC districts the best representation in Raleigh that they've had maybe in decades. And the voters showed their deep appreciation for that yesterday.

Labels: 2008 election results, Cullie Tarleton, Dan Soucek, Steve Goss

The "miracle" state senator of the 2006 election, Steve Goss kept the miracle alive last night. He was marked for extinction by the state GOP, since -- after all -- he represents a heavily Republican senate district in the 45th. But if Goss can survive in a presidential year, which brings straight-ticket Republicans out in droves (witness the color red in every county surrounding the little island of blueness that has become Watauga), Goss can survive pretty much anything.

Here's how he did it: he took 61% of the vote in Watauga and 66% of the vote in Ashe, which meant he just needed to break 40% in both Wilkes and Alexander, where he actually out-performed that expectation by taking just over 46% of the vote in both those deep-red Republican counties.

Plus he was gifted with a flawed opponent.

There's already a movement forming to draft Goss to run against Virginia Foxx in 2010.

Labels: 2008 election results, Jerry Butler, Steve Goss, Virginia Foxx

I was not emotional last night, even surrounded by 400+ delirious people at the Dragonfly Theater. What a crowd. What a diverse crowd.

I didn't begin to allow the emotion to well up until we were home and watched Barack give his acceptance speech. It wasn't the speech so much, though that was SOMETHING, but it was the sight of the Obama/Biden extended families taking the stage that caused me to lose it. This morning I've been gazing on the hundreds of still photographs from across the nation last night, and I can't seem to stop crying. (The N&O has some wonderful shots, including pics from Republican HDQs in Raleigh last night, which tell their own story, and the Chicago Tribune has both its own slide shows and reader-submitted photographs galore. You can find many such selections on other sites.)

Nothing (for me, at least) captures the human story of what actually happened in our nation last night like the photographs.

I began this blog five years ago, angry and burdened by the direction our president ... what was his name? ... was taking our country. I'm so thankful to be able to let whatisname go quietly to his dusty sub-basement of American history, and I can shift my burden (comes complete with a well-rubbed strand of worry beads) over to you folks out there who seem to expect, even demand your own personal anti-Christ. Now you can fret and start your own blogs. Here's a title for your first posting: "The Failed Obama Presidency."

It took me several months to come around to thinking that Obama could actually do it, do the impossible, do the unprecedented. Now that he's done it, with solid majorities in both popular and electoral votes (no Supreme Court appointments here, thank you!), I think it unwise for anyone, be it domestic racist or foreign terrorist, to underestimate this man.

Labels: 2008 election results, Barack Obama