Posted by
Steve on Saturday, November 11, 2006 12:46:47 PM
Election workers in Maricopa County are diligently counting votes from last Tuesday's election. JD Hayworth was losing by about 8,000 votes on election day. As of this morning, it is down to about 5700 votes. It is closing, but probably not fast enough for him to pull out a victory.
In my State House district, the Republican, Nichols now holds a 335 vote lead over the Democrat. That is a great improvement over election day where the Democrat held an 8 vote lead. My district is heavily Republican and to have a Democrat in office would have been awful. My district would not have been represented in the state. The two representatives would have canceled each other out. I believe that was the goal of the Arizona Republic when they endorsed the Democrat for the House seat. It is good to see that justice prevailed, finally. There may have to be a recount as the vote is so close, I am not sure. It may also hinge on whether the Democrat is honest and will concede before a recount may be needed.
As Republicans, we got away from what most of us became Republicans for. I became a Republican for lower taxes, smaller government, strong defense, controlling the borders, judges that rule on the law not make law and respect for others within the law. If all Republicans had kept to those principles, we would have had a landslide for Republican rule. Unfortunately, when our elected representatives got to Washington, they thought they were supposed to make government bigger. The drug entitlement is a boondoggle. It is going to cost way more than anyone thought. It is way more difficult to administer than anyone thought. Those are both typical of government and government programs.
My fear is that President Bush will try to get along with Democrats during the next two years. That will mean signing Democrat laws into law and undermining the Constitution. I just hope he has enough backbone to veto any bill that tries to repeal the tax cuts. Of course, they only have to do nothing to repeal the tax cuts. That was a glaring error at the time the bill was passed. It has come back to haunt those that wrote that provision into the law. President Bush should veto any Democrat bill that goes against the Constitution. I have my doubts that he will. He signed McCain/Feingold even when he said it was unconstitutional.
We now have to look to 2008. There are articles that McCain has plans to be on the 2008 ticket. He is despised by the conservative base of the party. The only ones that really think he has a chance are those in the main stream media. The conservative base will follow anyone but McCain. McCain is unreliable as a conservative. He can talk a good game. But, when the chips are down, he goes and pulls a Democrat on us. McCain just does not have the intestinal fortitude to be a conservative. He will buckle under to any Democrat pressure. That is how we got that gang of 14 that stopped the constitutional option from being played for judges. Now that chance is gone for a long time to come.
My early bet is on Mitt Romney to get the Republican nomination for President. He is everything you want in a Presidential nominee. He is smart, articulate and good looking. He has good conservative credentials. He has seen success everywhere he has been. He got a Democratic legislature to pass Republican laws in the most Democratic state in the country. That is quite an achievement.
I am unsure of who else the Republicans will have in the field. Sec. Rice would also be a strong candidate. But she has said she will not run. Giuliani is too liberal to be nominated in 2008 after the debacle of 2006. Sen. Frist fumbled the ball in the Senate these last couple of years. He will not be a viable candidate. There are no others that I am aware of at this time. Giuliani and McCain are the darlings of the MSM. But, they also have values closer to the MSM than Romney. We shall see how things shape up. Republicans are in need of a strong leader. I hope we find one soon.