It occurred to me yesterday that all of the recent events, from the bungling of the Iraqi situation, to Katrina, to this entire Delay and Rove messes might be about to have a disasterious effect on the upcoming November elections. Even people who were sort of reluctant quasi neo cons are starting to grumble about the Republicans. What do you think will happen for the party in the coming year? Is it possible that the next few elections will swing against the GOP?
I think that the GOP is about to get their asses handed to them on a silver platter if what has happened here in Virginia in the last six weeks is replicated nationwide. What happened? In the governors race we have the former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore running as the GOP selection running against Tim Kaine for the Dems. Both guys are pretty moderate and it wouldn't be the end of the world if either were elected since they are both not bad choices. As of six weeks ago Kilgore was wayyyyyyyyy ahead in the polls, ridiciously ahead as in Kaine didn't stand much of a chance, besides this state usually has a GOP governor. The GOP started running a nasty series of mud-slinging attack ads at about the same time all the Katrina problems started. In those few 6-8 weeks Kilgore has gone from being the extreme front runner to being significantly behind in the polls. I'm getting the sense that people who are truly moderate are sick of the GOPs lies and the attack ads were the last straw. For the past two weeks the Kilgore campaign has been suspiciously silent, until yesterday when they unveiled their new strategy, no longer pounding on abortion, taxes and the death penalty. I got a six page glossy brochure in the mail explaining that now Kilgore is going to make his #1 priority as governor of the state of Virginia deporting all the Mexicans. Seriously, six pages of racist rhetoric that is stomach-turning and vile. I'm personally offended even if I'm not thrilled by the hordes of Mexicans migrating here over the last five years. I think this stance is going to sound the death knell in his campaign. The funniest thing about the flyer is that there's a smiling photo of Kilgore in a three piece suit with red,white and blue tie while the photo of Kaine shows him in a rumpled shirt looking like Billy Bob Thornton with his arm around the shoulder of someone clearly hispanic.
My point is that here the GOP are grasping at strange straws in order to keep competetive in the race, not getting it that new issues aren't going to fool anyone because of how their leaders have behaved in the last few years but most especially in the last few months. Stick a fork in them, they're done.
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