Last night, Democrats scored a stunning victory in an overwhelmingly Republican district (74%-26% for Congress in 2010; one of only four districts in the state won by John McCain in 2008; home district of right-wing nutjob Carl Paladino) in upstate New York. A few observations and comments on Democrat Kathy Hochul’s special-election victory.
1. According to the New York Times, voters “turned out in strikingly large numbers for a special election.”
2. Based on the reporting I’ve seen, voters turned out in large part to express their disapproval of the Republican plan (authored by Paul Ryan, approved by the BONEr/Can’tor-controlled House with almost unanimous Republican’t support) to dismantle Medicare. This is terrible news for Republicans in 2012, unless they “refudiate” Ryan’s plan, and fast!
3. Aside from being a strongly Republican, conservative district, Republicans poured money into this race, outspending Democrats — but they lost anyway. Again, this is a dire warning to Republicans that their hold on the House is in serious jeopardy in 2012 if they keep pursuing their extreme, radical, and wildly unpopular agenda.
4. The Tea Party candidate drew only 9 percent of the vote, but helped by attacking Republican Jane Corwin from the right. We can only hope for lots more of this in 2012.
5. Exemplifying how clueless and crazy Eric Can’tor truly is, believe it or not he’s been calling for Paul Ryan to run for PRESIDENT (!!!) in 2012. According to Can’tor, “Paul is about real leadership.” Yes, “real leadership” if you like the idea of demolishing Medicare and severely harming the financial and economic future of the United States.
6. Based on what happened last night in an overwhelmingly “red” district, the end of Eric Can’tor’s days as House Majority Leader is now a serious possibility come November 2012. That end is even more likely if Republican’ts continue to double down on the insanity: pushing forward on divisive social issues; holding tornado relief funds hostage to their extreme agenda; and possibly even causing the United States to default on its debt, which would be an unmitigated disaster.
7. As a citizen of the United States of America who cares deeply about my country, I strongly hope Republican’ts don’t drive the nation off the cliff, as they appear hell-bent on doing. On the other hand, as a partisan Democrat, I can only hope that Republican’ts keep demonstrating how nuts they are to the American people through November 2012, and that last night’s results are then replicated from sea to shining sea. On Can’tor! On BONer! On Ryan! 🙂
P.S. Last night’s victory exemplifies the crucial importance for Democrats across the country, including here in Virginia, to recruit and run strong candidates in every district. In Virginia, that includes the 2011 General Assembly elections, where it’s quite possible we’ll see a similar backlash to what we witnessed last night in the solid “red” New York 26th!
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