Thaddeus McCotter Holds 11th Michigan by 15%. 
The reason my colleague Thaddeus McCotter was successful on a night that saw the Republican Party reduced to a remnant in the West, a smattering in the Midwest, a wipe out
in the East, with only the South representing a substantial block, is because Thaddeus McCotter joined 110 other members of the GOP House to vote "no" twice on the Paulson folly bailout September 29 and October 3. Yes, George Bush and Dick Cheney have been strangely MIA since last Christmas, and yes, the Democrats in Congress have gotten a pass on their stumbling behavior for two years. However it was the Hank Paulson-invented, Bush and Cheney blessed, GOP Senate-stamped, John McCain approved, John Boehner and Roy Blunt abetted bailout fiasco that wrecked the GOP in 2008. The emails and phone calls were up to one hundred to one against the bailout. The leadership in Congress and the White House and Cabinet failed to lead. Since the TARP II was passed on October 3, the Treasury has recast the $700 billion behemoth bill at least three times, turning it into a grotesque pot of paper wealth for whoever is favored or bold or quick to get to the head of the line. No one still can say what the bailout does or what it will achieve. It certainly didn't stop the crash of credit, since the markets fell more than 20% after the bill was passed and talk of recession turned ghoulish. Watching the failure of the markets and the banks the month of October was a bitter, maddening experience to the voters. The GOP died slowly all month. By the time of the final vote on November 4, more than 25% of the country had voted by mail in the smoke of the burning markets. The verdict was fixed for the GOP as well as John McCain. The overwhelming victory for Barack Obama on Election Day (above, in Grant Park, Chicago) was an even more lopsided rejection by the Republican voters of the aimless politician in John McCain and the ignorant stewards in the White House.
Birth again.
Thaddeus McCotter sends me his new manifesto for rebuilding what remains of the GOP in the House, "Now, Seize Freedom." It is passionate, cogent, hot-tempered and historically sound.
Thaddeus composed five fundamental principles for the Republican Party for today, and it is wonderful to read them, especially the first. "1. Our liberty is from God not from the government." Also easy to agree with, "2. Our sovereignty rests in our souls not the soil." And "3. Our security is through strength not surrender." And "4. Our prosperity is from the private sector not the public sector." And finally "5. Our truths are self-evident not relative." Reading them again, I am happy to say good riddance to the mighty and luminous GOP of savvy, expedient politicians (above, John and Cindy McCain voting in Arizona) that failed on November 4, 2008, and to say welcome to a battered and shabby GOP that begins without much in the way of resources or a plan or any hope of authority in Washington. Thaddeus calls this moment the "Republican Rock Bottom." We did fall down here without principles. Get back to principles, there will be rebirth.
Basically, this election was not so much a desire to move to the redistributionist ideology of Mr. Obama & Co., but rather a rejection of the Republicans who rejected their first principles of conservatism.
"Rock Bottom," indeed! But deservedly so, and 2006 should have been the warning bell. Stray from the path, you fall down the mountain.
Hopefully, TM will help guide the GOP back to a healthy path -- principle w/o derangement.
If only somebody could help the Dems do the same -- do they understand that right now they're holding all the cards because they were the only alternative? Not sure.
p.s. Your link to Mr. McCotter's manifesto doesn't seem to lead to said document. It's late, so perhaps I've missed something, but don't think so.
Would love seeing whole thing!
Well said, John! Yesterday´s was a vote against inconpetence. At least Obama appeared somewhat competent, whatever his plan. He will now be tested. I hope he will reject the impulse to continue blaming Bush for everything that may yet go wrong. I trust he will begin to be forthright with the American people who should be expected to wake up from their slumber soon. At the very least we´ll get our education in socialism (in the school of hard knocks), since our educational system no longer functions. The only thing that troubles is the fact that once you lose something, it´s hard to get it back. Thaddius McCotter seems to be on the right track for now. What will happen when he confronts Democrat-controlled signals in the always dangerously seductive switching yard? Is he focused enough to wait out 40 days and 40 nights in the desert? Or will he falter as others did before him, struck with blindness in the whithering heat of press (in)attention?
It wasn't a rejection, it was a refutation of Bush et al. So JB, how long before the bloodletting and the throwing of Palin under the bus? How long before the country clubbers rally around Jeb? Lastly, how long before Pelosi, Reid et al unleash their demented fury? Should we pull up a seat and watch, or would that be poor advice like that of General Nedelin? It's time to hit mattresses for the next 4 years.
JB - I enjoyed alot your post about how the right drives by night. There was another in American Thinker yesterday with the same theme. It was about Ronald Reagan in the early stages of his political career, wandering alone, before talk radio, talking about freedom. They are both inspiring - because the desire for liberty still beats on, perhaps under the surface right now. One thing that an election like this may do is to stop the slow creep of socialism that has been like chinese water torture, and, times likes these with the economic troubles as well as increasing belligerence from our enemies has perhaps the good effect of bringing things into clearer focus. I truly believe that the less than 40 year olds really don't have a concept as to what economic hard times are like. I was in high school and college during the Carter years and I remember how hard things got.
I like it, JB. Today its real easy to blame J McC as being as you say "mighty and luminous GOP of savvy, expedient politicians". Many of us had to swallow hard to support the guy. I still can't tell you what is philosophy is other than a patchwork of (perhaps) expedient positions. (end of chapter)
next chapter:
I'm 62 and felt young until last night. Now I'm thinking start watching Friends (or whatever is on major networks at night these days) and never watching the news, reading a political story or listening to JB on Sunday night. It is too depressing and and I'm worn out by the slop the Rep party has accumulated over the last 20 years. But I won't.
I do think the GOP is going to have to do some serious compromising to be relevant again. ONe major sticking point with growing again is abortion. The GOP, although right, is on the wrong side of where society is headed inexorably. Many people mock and certainly don't vote GOP because of what they see as primitive view. The level of hate and distrust among many Americans for the Christian Right and anti-abortion stance is substantial and will remain a barrier to regaining power. I don't know morally or intellectually what the answer is, but I do know is it (fetal) fatal liability.
Mr.Batchelor,
There is much that will go unsaid regarding this election; the indication of voting fraud, the media elite's undeniable effort to accent the positive stories of the President-Elect and the looming omissions of negative ones. All this will not be mentioned due to historic magnitude of electing the First Black President of the US.
McCain's campaign trouble was out in the open almost from day one. The decline of the Republican Brand has been 8 years in the making. I question whether the conservative base would be best served by standing with the failing party. Present company excluded Mr. McCotter.
The abortion issue, as other issues like race, gay rights, etc., is totally bogus. These are litmus test issues that do not win converts either way. These are of no consequence. They serve only to muddy the waters.
Such issues are perfect for a bumper sticker mentality that lacks the capacity to deal with larger, more complex trends. This past election only confirms that we have already crossed the Rubicon long ago. The result should be no surprise to anyone who has managed to occasionally tear themselves away from their insular concerns.
No doubt, what some see as a downturn will be viewed by others as progress. It is the others who are now in charge. They will either succeed or fail. If they should fail and we all should suffer as a result, it is likely that we will no longer remember how it was (or could have been). Personally, I don´t see a turn-around soon (as some are hoping). The old days will be missed by only a few. They will be marginalized by pomp and circumstance; by platitudonal deliveries; by the excitement of cult; by cool-aid fireworks and gas.
Only external events can now trigger a correction. We have put ourselves at the mercy of others,like the team that can only stand by and hope for others to lose to even have a chance of drawing the wild card.
What is the price of unrestrained, hard core environmentalism? We are about to find out. The extreme environmental left now has the White House and complete control of congress, and I suspect that very early next year they will gain control of the supreme court as well. Permanent damage? They either aren't smart enough see the price tag on their policies or dont care, the same is true for the fact that the policies themselves will kill their funding source.
Conservatives have bared their necks, their survival depends on the compassion of the far left. A question for conservatives; Is abortion really the single most serious threat this country is facing? You have lost it all while blindly clinging to that issue, and now that one is very likely permanently lost as well.
John,
The 7th NJ held. I blame the McCain defeat on Paulson, the Media, and Republicans allowing Democrats to control the narrow. No more playing nice. Time to go nuclear.
ABORTION
I agree with Mr. Johnson above. It always struck me that the anti-abortion, right-to--lifers were antithetical to an individual's right to personal freedom.
In other words, how can the Republican Party, which supposedly believes in individual liberty and freedom, want anti-abortion laws which are government interference with freedom, liberty and individual choice.
The thirty year olds I work with are jubilant - one thinks that she is going to move out of her parents basement and get a house now b/c of Obama, another thinks that her house wouldn't be in foreclosure and that her credit card debt wouldn't be so high (that's all Bush's fault) - good heavens!
These guys 'aint playing around:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5090077.ece
Abortion
How do you guys defend liberty while denying life to an early form of humanity? There is no liberty for a dead human being.
Explaining how one squares anti-abortion with liberty is easy. Life is first principle - there is no liberty without life.
I was pro-abortion in my early 20's. I was very libertarian at the time. The way I squared the circle was by denying the humanity of the fetus. I thought of the fetus as a parasite, or perhaps as a cancer, an unwanted house guest who the pregnant woman had the right to throw out of her house. It's a very callous way of thinking.
I had an epiphany one day when it struck me how much I wanted to become pregnant one day. I did a total 180. It was something that bubbled up from deep inside. Reason alone is not always enough. A fetus is a primitive form of a human being and we all were one once. That's right, we all passed through a fetal stage and denying right of life to a fetus is denying your own right to exist.
I will say that I think differently of life in early pregnancy than during late pregnancy and that if pushed, I'm not sure how I personally would handle the legality of abortion. I would not be that comfortable with criminalizing it. I haven't figured out all of my own contradictions. That doesn't change the fact that I see it as an abomination.
Great post by John, fully agree with his assessment of the election.
Real easy answer to Mike's question about how Republicans can oppose abortion. Even a Libertarian can oppose abortion. It's a very simple theory, and you'll either vehemently agree or disagree:
(1) Life begins at conception. (I believe)
(2) There's no difference in valence between a life that cannot be sustained without assistance of the mother's womb and/or an incubator, and one that is self-sustaining. In fact, liberals would say that none of us can live without one another (a position I find utterly fantastic); ergo no such thing as a truly self-sustaining life.
(3) One of the few proper functions of government is to protect the weak against the strong, especially from violent death. ( I believe)
(4) Except in the case of rape, the woman has a great deal of liberty to either have unprotected sex or not.
Once she decides to have unprotected sex, and a new life is conceived, the rights of that new life must take precedence over her own rights because it happens to be inside her body and depend on her for its life. In fact, I believe that the fetus' lack of viability is an argument for its right of protection by government, rather than an argument against it.
(5) Hope John doesn't banish me from the site for saying this, but I'm a lifelong atheist, and belief or lack of belief in a Supreme Being doesn't enter into this argument at all, as far as I can see.
Mike, you can disagree all you want with any of the above, but I don't like being cast as a hypocrit, so I take care to think things through, and I don't believe I'm being hypocritical in the slightest by being pro-life.
shannons i do concur... i work with a staff that voted overall for obama... several too hungover from excessive parting to be bothered to show up for their shifts this day. But i did see a new glistening of ... something ... in the eyes of several and a renewed or refreshed expression and attitude towards our customers
That is a big positive for the position i am in. I can only hope it last longer than the last stock market climb
I had not known who Thaddeus McCotter was before I started seeing him speaking out against the bailout plan on television. I was so invigorated by him I sent his office e-mails of encouragement. I also called his office in the evening, suprised that a person answered, and had a nice conversation with a young man who wanted to hear what I said and discussed things with me - and I didn't even live in his state! I've gotten a letter from McCotter since then, albeit probably a form letter, but I'm convinced this is the kind of man the Republican party needs to lead it! God Bless him for taking a stand.
So you are saying that people that hold these values are dinosaurs? I am not particularly fond of changing my values to fit some trend, but then again, I am not a politician.
Mike:
You can can be pro-life and still believe in personal freedoms, but I won't make a ruckus here. I will say I can even make a secular argument. It is no the only issue I judge someone, but Obama was clearly beyond pro-choice, but even if he wasn't, I wouldn't vote for him.
Lou:
I can relate to what you are saying. I was 3 months premature in the very early 60's and spent a couple months in the hospital. Not that you would know it now, being 6'5 and over 20 stone. Thanks for your thoughts.
Jim,
Back in 1986, my son was born at 26 weeks. (2 lbs. 11 ounces). Fortunately his peytus duct (?) had closed so he could breathe on his own but still had to have the bilirubin lights and had a 2 month hospital stay. When he came home we had him on the home monitor for another month after that.....Now he's 6'1" 200 lbs or so. I must say that it was seeing how complete he was at 26 weeks that made me pro-life after that. It changed me. I've tried never to be pro-life in a self-righteous way; I just think most people do not realize just how d****d viable a second trimester fetus really is. A second trimester fetus is very close to being a complete human being. Thanks for sharing your story.
Does anyone seriously believe that yesterday's shellacking had anything whatever to do with the Republican Party's anti-abortion stance? As for people like Mike and Mr. Johnson, out of one side of their mouths they bemoan how the Republican Party since 2000 has repeatedly caved on basic principles and important issues while out of the other side they demand that the Republicans now surrender on one of the few principled positions they've held firm on for thirty years, a period which encompassed five presidential election victories, by the way, three by landslide.
So get real, guys, and put the blame where it really belongs -- on RINOs and country-club Rockefeller types, McCainiac "post-partisans," K-Street and Wall Street wheeler-dealers, and incompetent or gutless leaders at various levels. These are the bad actors who must be purged, not the evangelicals who are only expressing their principled positions. As for the threadbare charge that opposition to abortion equals the imposition of someone's morality on someone else, quite right, for that is what all law is, the imposition of a moral position -- like, say, do not rob -- on those who would prefer to do otherwise -- like, say, rob. Get it?
2010 will be like 1994 , Obama can not keep any of his promises because the recession has only started. We haave not yet seen the deep plunge in the commercial reqal estate market and its snowball effect from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
If house goes Repub in 2010 then do investigation of Rezko in summer of 2012 with no impeachment. Nominate Rudi if he cleaned up Dinkin's mess he can clean Obama's also.
I would like John's comments about the secular messiah's use of mysterious sign language as abackdrop to the FCC v. Fox Television Stations case . In addition to the study that relates increase teenage pregnancy to content of television programming. It is not the abortion issue but the slippery slope to Soddom and Gemorrah.
Re: McCotter's manifesto. Lofty blather, but we've had enough high-flying crap from politicians. The country just elected the Blatherer-in-Chief.
Ryan has a plan for America: http://www.house.gov/ryan/press_releases/2008pressreleases/RoadmapSummary.pdf What's the plan for rebuilding the party from the ashes? Who's going to lead? Seems like a credible concrete legislative platform. Unfortunately, we have a credit-addicted stressed out society that at the moment is not feeling very self-confident. This is the moment when they are most vulnerable to snake-oil salesmen from the Mommy party. Forget consumer confidence. How are Republicans gonna convince people they are capable enough to create their own futures when they have spent the last year whoring after government to save them from themselves, from their excesses?
Thanks Lou. My mom called me her miracle baby. Back then they didn't have light treatments and I had to have blood transfusions. As far as the issue goes, I am in the same place. Thanks for sharing your story as well.
My point is being made rather well here, The conservative movement has just been relegated to fringe status and abortion is still the main topic of discussion. I am not expressing an opinion for or against the practice, that is to miss the point. The point is that Roe V Wade never should have been heard. The debate should be taking place at the state level where it belongs, it has no place on the national stage. WE HAVE BIGGER PROBLEMS!!!!!!!
All - re the discussion on abortion: For those opposed to abortion - the best 'weapon' is the Ultrasound. Embryos show distinct human form even at 7-8 weeks. At 10-11 weeks you can even see their little ribs. The requirement that those seeking to terminate their pregnancies first view an ultrasound of their own baby will likely make them confront the reality that what they are considering doing. Even at a few weeks post-conception, it is a 'PERSON'. This won't eliminate abortion - but it has been shown to reduce it. We can only hope! Promote the 'Culture of Life' in your own homes to counteract the 'indoctrination centers' which our schools have become. Even an 'unplanned' baby is a 'blessing' - certainly not a 'punishment' as BHO said in an unguarded moment.
"As for the threadbare charge that opposition to abortion equals the imposition of someone's morality on someone else, quite right, for that is what all law is, the imposition of a moral position -- like, say, do not rob -- on those who would prefer to do otherwise..."
It is not equivalent. Unlike burglary or other such acts, the abortion issue is an unresolvable moral dilemma, and does not belong in the political arena (hence has been problematic for Republicans and would-be conservatives). If you believe that life begins at conception (which is a scientifically reasonable position), then abortion is murder. However, if a government legislates what a woman can or can't do with her own body, that is oppression--and history shows that when societies control women's bodies and prohibit individual reproductive choice, those societies are likely to be oppressive in other ways as well.
This is one reason why it is a mistake and a contradiction for conservatives to make abortion one of their central issues.
There is nothing to tell - keep silent not to litter a theme.