The most surprising thing about this election to The Eye is how blue Deschutes County turned out to be.
Not only did Barack Obama carry this once-reliably Republican stronghold, but Democrat Judy Stiegler edged out two-term incumbent Republican Chuck Burley for the Oregon House District 54 seat, and Democrat Alan Unger opened a can of whup-ass on veteran Republican County Commissioner Mike Daly. That means a Democrat will sit on the county commission for the first time since the early 1990s.
What happened? The Republicans still have a registration edge in Deschutes County, but The Eye believes many, if not most, of those Republicans are the rational, moderate variety – not the fire-breathin’, gun-totin’, raw-meat-chewin’ breed that cheered Sarah Palin for calling Obama a “socialist” and a friend of terrorists. And rational, moderate Republicans here (and all over the country) were nauseated by the sleazy tone of the McCain campaign and simply didn’t bother to vote.
No doubt analysis of the election returns over the next few days will bear out or disprove this hypothesis.
The Bill Sizemore brand seems almost as tarnished in Oregon as the Republican brand is nationally. Four of the five measures Sizemore put on the ballot went down; at this writing only Measure 64 – forbidding public employees from contributing to candidates or political causes through their unions – appears possibly headed for victory.
John McCain’s concession speech last night was the high point of his campaign. It was dignified, gracious and patriotic. If America had seen more of this John McCain during the campaign the race might have had a different outcome – or at least have been a lot closer.
Unfortunately, some of McCain’s troglodyte supporters couldn’t resist booing every time he mentioned Obama’s name. Those folks are a class act all the way.
On the national level, how will Republicans react to their crushing defeat? The Eye’s guess is that, at least for a while, they’re going to make excuses and look for scapegoats, blaming “the biased liberal media,” claiming election fraud (yeah, right – the Democrats stole 300 electoral votes and four million popular votes), and arguing that McCain/Palin could have won if the campaign had been better-funded and better managed.
True, the Republican campaign WAS atrociously mismanaged and had less money than Obama’s. But the real story is that the nation soundly repudiated the disastrous Republican policies – trickle-down economics, wholesale deregulation and a cocky, belligerent foreign policy – that got us into our current mess at home and abroad.
Americans also repudiated the tactics of fear and smear that Republicans have been employing ever since George Bush the First ran the notorious Willie Horton ad against Mike Dukakis. Americans are sick and tired of that crap. Poll after poll shows it. Barack Obama understood it. John McCain did not. And John McCain lost, big-time.
If Republicans can purge or at least marginalize the party’s lunatic fringe elements, abandon Turdblossom Rove’s brand of fear and smear and offer a positive, realistic alternative to the Democrats, they can make a comeback fairly quickly. If they can’t or won’t, they will wander in the political wilderness for a long, long time.
Finally, The Eyes suspects this could turn out to be as big a political watershed as the 1932 victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Eye’s parents came of age during the Great Depression and cast their first votes – like millions of other members of their generation — for FDR. They remained lifelong Democrats
Watching the huge Obama rally in Chicago’s Grant Park on election night, The Eye was overwhelmed by a sense of history. The millions of young people who worked and voted for Obama this year and gave him the victory will remember the exhilaration of last night as long as they live. They have imprinted on the Democratic Party, and they are likely to remain Democrats for life – or at least for many years.
The Democratic Party increasingly is looking like the future. The GOP increasingly is looking like the party of (to borrow a great phrase from New York Times columnist Frank Rich) “grumpy old white guys watching Bill O’Reilly in a bunker.”
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2008.
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As a life long Democrat, until the Clintons, I hope Obama can practice what he preached and not be controlled by the sleeze and overly liberal far left of the Democratic Party.
Monday morning quarterbacking is already starting. “It’s all about race!” I guess it may be–the crowd at McCain’s concession speech was white–there was a dark-skinned guy serving food. The quarter million in Chicago were a virtual rainbow of ethnicities. “The GOP strayed from its core conservative values that propelled it to victory during the Reagan years!” True-the Repubs are big government, deficit spenders with no concern for the future costs of their out of control ideology. Hard to run on a ‘change’ platform when its running away from yourself.
“Obama bought the election.” For the first time in my memory the Democrats out-organized and out-raised The Republicans. This was never a complaint when the GOP was able to be the more competent–why is it a complaint now? “The public was fooled by a slick-talking novice.” No, the ‘public’ is tired of being lied to by bumbling ideologues so focused on advancing their agenda at the expense of the public good that even the least educated and sophisticated could see past the ‘maverick’ claims–the ‘palling around with terrorist’ allegations–the anti-regulation record denials–the specious Rezko ties–the ‘McCain and Palin are the only real hope’ campaign.
We’re done with the way things have been tried in the past. My generation had a morally flawed president in Clinton and an incompetent president in Bush. We f’d up! There was nothing new in the ideas, campaign and rhetoric of the Repub’s 2008. It was time to move on. My vote was an apology and a passing of the torch. Others will piss and moan–rage and fuss–but this is an election, not the apocalypse. There is one every four years, and has been for over 200 years. In four years we will judge how well we have done and have a chance to adjust or continue. That’s how it works!
“Unfortunately, some of McCainâ ™s troglodyte supporters couldnâ ™t resist booing every time he mentioned Obamaâ ™s name. Those folks are a class act all the way.”
Right, because the Democrats were sooooo gracious toward President Bush after being beaten in 2000 and 2004. You are not going to see any anti-Obama marches by high school conservatives as in the ironically named “books not bombs” of a few years ago. Nobody is going to stand on the corner of Greenwood and Third street every Friday trying to get every 20th car to honk. On January 20, there will not be any fake funeral marches such as that embarrassment Bend and Portland (and surely numerous other cities) liberals put on four years ago. There will not be any lame, protracted, and baseless attempts to question the integrity of the elections and demand recounts just because our guy lost.
“The Democratic Party increasingly is looking like the future.”
The conservative movement was strong following the 1994 mid terms. However, the Republicans swept into office in this movement got fat and sassy and lost their way. Republican leadership now, for sure, is a tattered bunch in search of a direction, in search of a message. Will the Obama presidency spark another conservative movement? I think so, but time will tell. The Democrats hold all the cards now, but just remember, there is nobody else to blame when things don’t work out.
“Nobody is going to stand on the corner of Greenwood and Third street every Friday trying to get every 20th car to honk.”
Probably not, because I don’t expect President Obama to start any unnecessary and foolish wars based on lies about non-existent “weapons of mass destruction.” If he does, you have my permission to picket. In fact I will join you.
UPDATE: Late returns gave Deschutes County to McCain. I still think it’s pretty amazing that the Democrats did as well as they did here.
I find that The Source in general, and Mr.Miller’s views in particular, more than amply qualify as examples of “the biased liberal media” (eg. this article)! Unfortunately, they are but a very small example of that sad but very true observation of American journalism. Rush Limbaugh and the folks at FOX don’t even come close to tipping the balance to the conservative side.
By the way, if you want to talk about “Lunatic Fringe”, I have been constantly amazed at the rabid, mean-spirited, irrational, hyper-emotional rants put forth by Democrats over the last eight years. Instead of the popular inference that Republicans are somehow less intelligent, thoughtful or caring than themselves; they would be far better served with calm, intelligent disussions of the issues.
“they would be far better served with calm, intelligent disussions of the issues.”
Hmm. Do you mean, like, saying your opponent is a socialist and a communist and pals around with terrorists and hates America? Do you mean, like, insinuating he’s a Muslim when he isn’t? Do you mean, like, saying the areas of the country that support your candidate are “the real America” and the others, by implication, are not “the real America”? Is that what you mean by “calm, intelligent discussions of the issues”? Please, I need some clarification here.
And yes, I am a liberal and I blog from a liberal perspective. I never made any secret of it, I am not ashamed of it and I do not apologize for it. With KBND feeding Rush, Limbaugh et al. all day long and The Bulletin printing right-wing columnists (Hanson, Kristol etc.) on its editorial page, I would say the conservative viewpoint is amply represented in Bend media. But if you would like to see a conservative blog on the Source’s website you should talk to Editor Eric Flowers or Publisher Aaron Switzer.
As a side note: the Bullshiten didn’t run the Doonesbury caroon on the fifth that was really kind of funny in how it handled the election results. I have to wonder what their reasoning was.
“Rush Limbaugh and the folks at FOX don’t even come close to tipping the balance to the conservative side.” That right there disqualifies everything else you have to say from further consideration.
Let us all move forward and hope our fears of Obama and Democrat control are unfounded. We have the opportunity for change again in 4 years if the Democrats do as poorly as they have the last two years.
On Wednesday morning, the Repubs started the attack on Obama. On MSNBC, of all places, the potential selection of Immanuel as his chief of staff led to the blanket statement that Obama’s campaign was a lie, the COS selection was nothing more than the old politics, and Republicans should take this as fair warning that the socialist, liberal tide would steamroll any attempts at ‘moderation.’ These were the same voices decrying Lieberman’s potential removal from the Dem caucus as ‘mean spirited retribution.’ Duh!
To pretend that there is no attempt by the conservative movement to paint the Dems as out-of-control, left-wing lunatics is absurd. The cynical animosity between the parties has led to the country’s incapacity to deal with its problems. How about we all tone it down a bit and wait to see what is really going to happen?
Let’s face it. The BS about Palin is coming from the Repubs campaign staff and first surfaced on Fox. Fear and smear as a strategy usually ends up eating its own in the long run. This is what has happened to the Repubs nationally. Their natural reaction is to retrench–reject the ‘new’ direction–and search for a way to return to their roots. Conservatives will talk about Reagan–the ‘good old days’–lower taxes–free markets–big government–big brother–the socialist threat. In other words, anything that can be shrunk to a bumper sticker that someone like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can understand. Smple words for simpletons.
Complex problems require complex solutions implemented by complex men. For once, lets hope that policy is being set and implemented by the brightest guys in the room–not the ones who passed some political litmus test.
Obama may fail–he admitted as much in his speech Tuesday night. It is truly idiotic for any of us to hope for and extoll that failure. the risk is too great.
One side lost–the other side won. Why not TRY to move past that and work together to solve problems? It might be easier and more fun to be the grumpy guy in the balcony with nothing good to say nor constructive to contribute, but we are all in this mess together.
“Let us all move forward and hope our fears of Obama and Democrat control are unfounded.”
Jed, I don’t understand what all this “fear” is about. Contrary to what you have heard from Limbaugh, Hannity and O’Reilly, Obama is not a socialist or a communist. He is a pretty conventional middle-of-the-road progressive. He is not a “radical leftist” except by the standards of Limbaugh et al. He is not going to impose a Soviet-style tyranny on the United States. So cool your jets and relax.
And FYI, the Democrats have not been in control for the past two years. They had only a one-vote majority in the Senate (meaning the Republicans could kill any legislation they didn’t like with filibusters) and there is a Republican president in the White House who was only too willing to veto any progressive measure that came across his desk.
“In 2000 a majority in Bend voted for Bush. In 2004 a majority in Bend voted for Bush. In 2008 a majority in Bend voed for Palin/McCain.”
But a razor-thin majority this time. And we did elect a Democratic state legislator and county commissioner.
At the time the original post was written it appeared that Obama had carried Deschutes County. The Oregonian had called it for him. So I went with that. McCain ultimately eked out a narrow win.