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Good news for GOP … Dems still don’t get it

Good news for GOP … Dems still don’t get it

Democrats generally believe that the off-year election on November 2nd was not good news.  But from all the post-election spinning, whining and explaining it appears they remain clueless to the all-important “why.”  Why did voters all over the nation deal the Democratic Party – especially the powerful Progressive faction – a karate kick to the gut.

Former United States Senator from Missouri Claire McCaskill took up her designated seat on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to say that Democrats need to unite – and not engage in any blame game.  That would be the most stupid thing Democrats could do.  They need to learn why their political party was so broadly and deeply rejected … humiliated.  And the reason is the result of specific Democrat leaders’ actions and Democrat policies.  If they do not find those people and policies responsible for the debacle, they will not fix the problem.

In fact, judging from the post-election commentary and spin, Democrats still do not get it.   They are still in their echo chamber claiming that nothing about the Democratic Party – or their policies – is the problem.

Oh, they do claim that they did not “message” well enough.  Their general reaction is that … if the voters were not so stupid and understood all the good things the donkey party wants to provide them, Democrats would have come out on top on November 2nd.  

The big excuse — masking as self-criticism — is that they did not explain all the good things in their two mega spending bills.  I cannot imagine that even a passive voter has not heard over and over of all those goodies in the Biden bills.  If Democrats think their problem is voter ignorance, they will continue to lose ground.  Maybe … just maybe … it is the policies and practices of the Biden administration that are the problem.  

They do point to polls that suggest that most Americans like all those welfare proposals.  But that seems more and more the fault of the polling.  If you ask a voter if they like parental leave, they may say yes … but they may not support other provisions of the all-encompassing legislation.

Or voters may be savvy enough to see the downside of the legislation.  Excessive spending, higher prices due to inflation, higher taxes.  Maybe the folks back home understand that THEY will be paying for all those increased taxes on corporations at the point-of-sale.

When Democrats say, “look at what we are actually doing … and will do,” the voters also see the crisis at the border, record inflation, a messed up Covid handling, supply-chain constipation, gas prices soaring, etc., etc., etc.

Some Democrats take some blame because of the failure to pass those “popular” Biden bills.  That is perhaps the dumbest explanation of all.  Ask yourself … if you liked all the provisions in the Biden bills – and you anticipate that much of it would be passed in the near future – would you actually vote against the candidates who are supposedly liked doing what you like.  Wouldn’t you want to give the Democrats more political capital and power to complete the job.

I would argue that the voters were telling Democrats that they did not like all those expensive goodies.  They want the Democrats to slow down, scale down.  The election results were AGAINST Democrats – AND Democrat policies, programs and proposals.  Especially those of the Progressive left.

In a past commentary, I opined that Biden & Co. would lose support among the American people no matter if his HUGE transformative legislation passed or not.  I think the results of the recent election adds credibility to my point.

Then there is the Trump-as-Rasputin strategy.  In the recent election, Republicans across America proved that they are not the Trumpian cultists as the Democrats portray.  They are running as individual Republicans on Republican issues.  Trump was not on the ballot and will not be until 2024 – if ever. 

Republicans, independents and even some Democrats are not going to be driven away from the policies they prefer by bogus narratives and baseless name-calling.  The Democrats and their media propaganda outlets can use broad-brush smears and demonization through cheap-shot guilt-by-association strategies, but I am confident that they will fail – and we have just seen the first act of that failure.  

There is a reason why the “Let’s go, Brandon” euphemism is sweeping the nation.  It captures a mood — a mood that Democrats and too much of the media still do not understand.  It is a political arrogance that says, “no matter what the voters think and do, WE are still right!”  

Albert Einstein described insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  If Democrats continue to peddle their same old political narratives and strategies, they are like to see similar results in 2022.

So, there ‘tis.

About The Author

Larry Horist

So, there ‘tis… The opinions, perspectives and analyses of businessman, conservative writer and political strategist Larry Horist. Larry has an extensive background in economics and public policy. For more than 40 years, he ran his own Chicago based consulting firm. His clients included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman. He has served as a consultant to the Nixon White House and travelled the country as a spokesman for President Reagan’s economic reforms. Larry professional emphasis has been on civil rights and education. He was consultant to both the Chicago and the Detroit boards of education, the Educational Choice Foundation, the Chicago Teachers Academy and the Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. Larry has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress, and has lectured at colleges and universities, including Harvard, Northwestern and DePaul. He served as Executive Director of the City Club of Chicago, where he led a successful two-year campaign to save the historic Chicago Theatre from the wrecking ball. Larry has been a guest on hundreds of public affairs talk shows, and hosted his own program, “Chicago In Sight,” on WIND radio. An award-winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries have appeared on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He is praised by audiences for his style, substance and sense of humor. Larry retired from his consulting business to devote his time to writing. His books include a humorous look at collecting, “The Acrapulators’ Guide”, and a more serious history of the Democratic Party’s role in de facto institutional racism, “Who Put Blacks in That PLACE? -- The Long Sad History of the Democratic Party’s Oppression of Black Americans ... to This Day”. Larry currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida.

6 Comments

  1. Dan Tyree

    I’ve said it before. You can’t fix stupid

  2. Feank stetson

    Hmm, Biden’s popularity was at an all time high; wonder where it might trend. Trump’s popularity always low and apparently even with a miraculously successful economy, all those factory, coal, oil, and pollution jobs, end of racism, zero tolerance for illegal aliens, massive free money via tax cuts, ihis approval stayed at record low levels. He sucks so bad he was forbidden from NJ and VA even after announcing his pending second coming.

    Your spin notwithstanding, we lost. My batting 500 is generally considered pretty darn good in baseball. Inflation, supply chain problems, in-house bickering, lack of action in Congress,, lots of things to make for a long cold political winter. And as I said before, and of course you completely ignore, Terry’s little live debate quote about education and parents blossomed into a full blown negative ad compaign that really had some teeth. Combine that with a high Republican turn out and a Low Democratic turnout and you have just what has happened in every midterm governor election in Virginia; the opposing party wins. Same always happens in New Jersey… Except this time. How much money have you donated to the NJ recount Larry? It’s going to be good.

    • larry Horist

      Frank, You have brightened my day. You have confirmed the point of my commentary. Folks on the left still do not get it. You still do not understand what happened on Election Day. Simply put … the left-leaning Democrats took a drubbing. The facts — the statistics and the victories speak for themselves to anyone who will listen. I am not going into the hundreds of examples of Republican resurgence across the nation, but I will give you one anecdotal example that particularly pleases me. My oldest is on the far left. He is a member of the Seattle music community. I am not sure if he ever voted for a Republican. He switched this time. I was shocked. He was part of the reason the GOP made inroads into very left-wing Seattle. I keep hearing that Republicans will be crushed in 2022 and 2024 — and they made the same prediction for 2021.. But those predicting that are looking very very nervous. Even Pelosi declared Election day as bad news for Democrats. In that, she and I agree. Will you be joining the chorus that is singing a requiem for the GOP in advance of 2022?

  3. Frank stetson

    I have looked for the statistics to no avail; you consistently mention them and then provide anecdotal data from your family which is not a bellwether. .

    I see no facts out of place in my two paragraphs above. We did bat 500 and governor races; with all of your anecdotes you missed the Boston progressive win.

    And, it appears you did not read the link.

    I am not seeing the total tally nor do I express any interest in school board elections. However, since the smaller local elections have frosted our cupcakes in the past, a.k.a. the Kick brothers strategy, I can see where you might be correct. I just have not seen that data yet and your anecdotes are just that.

    I look forward to a good summary link for the stats. Weird that I can not find what you appear to have.

    • Dan Tyree

      Get your head out of your ass and look you idiot

  4. Frank stetson

    Why? Because you can’t find it either? Maybe it just does not exist? Love the name calling, very childish. You always do that when you can’t support the shit you spew. You got nothing, just hate speech from a self-proclaimed southern native american racist. Of course, your words not mine. You guys just live to pull the martyred racist card.