Las Vegas Sun

November 21, 2009

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Sun editorial:

Put down the tea bags

Suggestions that elections indicate a sea change in politics are premature

Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

Relishing Tuesday’s GOP victories in the governors races in New Jersey and Virginia, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele declared Wednesday, “The Republican renaissance has begun.” The editors of the conservative National Review declared in a headline Wednesday: “The comeback begins.”

The spin from the right is that the election results show that the country is rebuking President Barack Obama because he campaigned for the Democrats in those states. They see these elections as harbingers of the 2010 interim election, in which all House of Representatives members and a third of the Senate are up for election. But can two statehouse races really determine that? The short answer: No.

Consider the other race that garnered national attention Tuesday night. In a special congressional election in upstate New York, Democrat Bill Owens defeated conservative Doug Hoffman, whose run was trumpeted by Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Owens is the first Democrat to win a congressional race in the district since 1872.

So much for the renaissance — and so much for the right’s influence. If the elections tell us anything, it’s the reminder that voters care about local issues.

New Jersey’s Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine lost to Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor with a reputation for fighting corruption. Christie made Corzine’s ethical problems, as well as the governor’s poor handling of the state’s budget crisis, central themes in the campaign.

In Virginia, Bob McDonnell, who declined Palin’s offer to campaign for him, ran toward the center, offering proposals to improve education, transportation and the environment.

In the New York race, Hoffman tried to tar Owens, who grew up in the district, as a lackey of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. However, critics noted that Hoffman lived outside the district and didn’t have command of local issues. Owens did.

In these races, the voting didn’t turn on Obama but on the candidates’ competence and stance on local issues. Conservatives should pay attention: If all they can offer the voters next year are tea bags and signs declaring “NObama,” they’ll be in trouble.

Discussion: 32 comments so far…

  1. The LV Sun is saying "Put down the tea bags"

    Why should we?

    The mean spiritness of Obama is a manifestation of his weakness

    We will not become the "Silenced Majority"

    As an illiterate unwashed redneck white trash tea-bagger I realize that we have no right to question the spin that the Democrats are putting out.

    Obama is fond of saying we "are not something he is losing sleep over."

    Obama in addressing the American Nation from the "Halls of Congress" felt he was right to ridicule and call my opposition position "a lie, plain and simple.

    I know that Obama must be true to his South Side Chicago political craft to "call out people who challenge his positions. Obviously because Obama feels we have "phony claims" and I am unable to understand what is good for me.

    We have learned that to get off the Obama/Garofalo enemies list we need to be sent to a community organized Mao re-programming camp to stop asking "WHY" of Obama policies.

    We must become the "Silenced Majority".

    Obama, Reid, and Pelosi are tone deaf. They do not respond to our phone calls, e-mails, townhalls, or rallies. They refuse to listen to us because we are lairs to them, but mostly because they know we do not believe them or trust them. Harry called us evilmonger and Nancy called us un-American.

    But until we lose the secret ballot, as the Unions want, the "Silenced Majority" can clandestinely vote in 2010 against the Whitehouse demonization politics.

  2. I hope and pray that every Dem and lib in the country is buying this koolaid that the Sun and other lib media are pushing.

    Please, Oh God, let them drink that koolaid down.

  3. The short answer is "Yes." Americans have now had a short but sour taste of a government controlled by the Democrats. The move to the exits has begun and by the time the next election cycle come around, you will think that someone had yelled "fire!" in a theater.

  4. "Whistling past the graveyard" Thats what they used to call it. Thats what Axelrod and Pelosi are doing. Democrats lost 2 state houses. One in particular that Obama personally got involved in. People in New Jersey heard his worn out rhetoric long enough. He's made 500 promises and can't deliver on any. Just like Carter. 39 months to go!

  5. Maybe someone should tell the LVSun to put down the sour grapes.

  6. "Americans have now had a short but sour taste of a government controlled by the Democrats. The move to the exits has begun and by the time the next election cycle come around, you will think that someone had yelled "fire!" in a theater."

    That's why the Democratic majority in the House expanded by two seats, right?

    That's why a Democrat won in a seat that has been held by a republican since the Civil War, right?

    The teabaggers' war with the republican party cost them a seat in the House. They are no threat.

  7. The only reason the Dems won the 23rd New York seat is that there wasn't a Republican in the race.

  8. Having the Dems in charge has been a lot like "Take Your Child to Work Day". It's interesting to watch for a little while, but then they need to step aside and let the grownups get back to work.

  9. ksand99 puts it in proper perspective.
    Not exactly a "MANDATE", sgtnance. If I were one of you Neo-Cons like sgtrock, I would not get GIDDY like a schoolgirl over Tuesday's election results.

  10. Thank you God.

    The libs are drinking the koolaid.

  11. The elections were a big defeat for hate-talk radio, and Republicans like Sue Loudung are distancing themselves from local hate-talkers like Heidi Heirass.

  12. Hey mred...

    Talk about hate-talk... Were you looking in a mirror when you wrote that???

  13. Greenspun threatened by REID???
    No comments allowed for Reid articles in the Las Vegas Sun anymore! It appears that Harry Reid is up to his old tricks again. He must have threatened Brian with destruction like he did the Review Journal...

    Sen. Reid's Newspaper Feud Continues
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/0...

    SHERMAN FREDERICK: Enough is enough, Harry
    Stop the childish bullying
    http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/56171937.htm...

    We won't allow you to bully us. And if you try it with anyone else, count on going through us first.

    That's a promise, not a threat.

    And it's a promise to our readers, not to you, Sen. Reid.

    Publisher Accuses Reid of 'Bullying' Nevada Newspaper
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/...

    But to fully capture the magnitude of Reid's remark (and to stop him from doing the same thing to others) it must be called what it was -- a full-on threat perpetrated by a bully who has forgotten that he was elected to office to protect Nevadans, not sound like he's shaking them down.

    No citizen should expect this kind of behavior from a U.S. senator. It is certainly not becoming of a man who is the majority leader in the U.S. Senate. And it absolutely is not what anyone would expect from a man who now asks Nevadans to send him back to the Senate for a fifth term.".

    http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/ha...

    Since mid October the comments section of articles about Harry Reid have been removed from the Las Vegas Sun! Check for yourself...

  14. No, ksand99 doesn't have it right. Just as the Republicans grew out of touch with the majority of voters when they controlled all three branches of government, so too will the Democrats. If anyone actually thinks that the majority of Americans agree with the left wing policies of people like Pelosi, they must be smoking crack. Every vote the liberals jam through congress is another knot in the noose which will be slipped around their necks.

  15. I'm glad to see that the Sun puts Glen Beck, Rush and Sarah right up there with Obama. If Obama's campaigning for the governors meant nothing in the final analysis, neither did the campaigning of Rush, et al. You should look a little deeper on what you write and read between the lines before just posting what the dems tell you to post.

  16. Put down the tea bags, pick up the guns.

    Put down the tea bags, and stop paying taxes while you're at it! (buy everything you need tax free on craigslist.com)

    Put down the tea bags, and pick-up a computer and start blogging the truth around the world!

  17. What the Republican Party needs to take from this election is that in the one race (NY23) where hot-button issues involving religion and personal liberty were in play they LOST badly.

    In other words, I believe that people would like to see the Republican Party return to being the party of small government and libertarian values and stop being run by bible-thumpers who wish to legislate morality.

    I think it is legitimate to say that Obama should see this as a personal defeat in NJ given his heavy involvement there. Virginia, on the other hand, went as expected given a long history now of going with the opposite party.

    The clincher for me was the Maine vote to legalize medicianl pot. This, coupled with NY23 shows what matters most to Americans today is to have government out of our lives as much as possible.

  18. mrxroc8,
    You remind me of someone else who used to post here, with all of your links & pontificating...
    especially against Ol' Harry!
    If you believe that Harry Reid was "threatening" to actually put the RJ out of business, you are a fool. And if you believe ANYTHING, and I mean ANY THING that Sherm Fredericks writes, you have had the WOOL pulled completely over your head.

  19. Looks like someone picked up on my prophetic "vibe" in TX. For the record, I don't condone killing innocent people. The revolution I call for however does allow the execution of any elected official that in our eyes is a traitor and an enemy of the constitution. I also call on all military personnel who fly armed fighter jets and could possible drop their payload on strategic targets to join in "The Revolution" once they have fully grasped the effects the treasonous hijacking of our Constitution by Zionist-Satanic forces has had upon the USA.

    There will be many white, Christian patriots within our military who hear the call and rise up against our Zionist oppressors. Who needs tea bags, you're right. Lets roll!

  20. There are a number of posters here who have displayed a lack of education at times, but Sergio_the_Prophet has earned the dubious distinction of being the "Idiot of the Year" by a wide margin.

    Not satisfied with being the village idiot, he is going for State Idiot at the very least.

  21. gmag39

    While I do not always agree with Sherm Fredericks on all issues, he is in fact the editor of the largest newspaper in Nevada. On this issue he is 100% right.
    I'm pretty sure he did not get there by being completely inept as you would have us all believe. After all the Sun is only an 'insert' paper to the Review-Journal having no distribution of it's own.

    I simply find it troubling that readers may comment on every article in the Las Vegas Sun except for original articles about Harry Reid...during an election cycle.

    Oh well... Pontificated wool caps are nice to have for the Las Vegas winters. :)

  22. Sergio:
    Hate to break it to you, but you are not a profit. You are MENTALLY ill.
    Step away from the keyboard and get help!

  23. mrxroc8,
    I AM IN 100 PERCENT AGREEMENT.
    There is NO REASON to block comments on Harry Reid stories, during an election cycle in particular.
    As to Sherman, he has NO journalistic ethics. Period.

  24. They block comments on Reid stories for the same reason they block them on Greenspun's editorials, there would be an almost unanimous cry of "BULLSH!T".

  25. Orka,

    (As in Free Willie?), I can assure you that I am of sound mind and a receiver of inspiration and revelation from God. Whether or not you heed my words matters not, it only matters that my words be uttered in public, even if only a few inspired individuals take heed.

  26. Censorship is a sure tell sign of the beast. That and calling the Prophet crazy.

  27. Sergio:
    I was just now praying and God spoke to me. Really!
    He said:
    Pay no heed to Sergio, he's just a dooshbucket.
    The one true internet profit is... Sarah Palin.

  28. To Sergio_the_Prophet: God requires that I take humble pity upon those who cannot remember what cabinet they left their meds in.
    May God bring peace to your soul.
    Please continue to vent in this way so people can see the danger that lurks in your mind.

  29. On the topic at hand: Attempting to forecast a dynamic trend on three local elections is not rational. It is tantamount to predicting a tsunami based on the presence of one small wave.

  30. Here is another class of koolaid....libs.

    Keep drinking.

  31. obama = britney spears.

    both look good, but not much real talent.

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