The Six Year Itch

We saw an ugly election result a few weeks ago. What can I say? I called it wrong.

The Six Year Itch has struck again. When you go back and look at off-year elections in a President's sixth year in office, there is almost always a loss. Sometimes a huge loss. Clinton was a bit of an exception, in that his loss occurred in 1994, his second year in office. Let's look at a few numbers.

1874, Grant's sixth year in office. Lost 8 in the Senate, 96 in the house.
1894, Clevland re-elected, defacto sixth year. Lost 5 in the Senate, 116 in the House.
1906, Teddy Roosevelt's sixth year, bucked the trend a bit. Gained 3 in the Senate, lost 28 in the House.
1918, Wilson, lost 6 in the Senate, lost 19 in the House.
1938, the great FDR, lost 6 in the Senate, 71 in the House.
1950, Truman, lost 6 in the Senate, 59 in the House.
1958, Eisenhower, lost 13 in the Senate, 48 in the House.
1966, Johnson, lost 4 in the Senate, 47 in the House.
1974, Nixon, lost 5 in the Senate, 48 in the House.
1986, the great Ronald Reagan even lost seats, 8 in the Senate and 5 in the House.
1994, Clinton bucked the trend with early losses, losing 9 in the Senate, 54 in the House.
2006, Bush, loses 6 in the Senate, 28 in the House.

Bush's losses are just about average.

I sense a historical trend here, not a massive upset. I feel more cheerful now.

I do hope that with the Republican spanking we'll see a return to a more conservative party. I won't hold my breath on that, but I'll be hopeful.

That was ugly...

All I can say is... ouch.

Ok, I can say more than that. The Republicans got hammered. From what I can tell it was a combination of scandals and the war in Iraq. Which leaves us the unpleasant reality of a Democrat controlled House of Representatives, and possibly the senate as well.

Time for the Democrats to put up or shut up. For six years they've done nothing and offered nothing except second guessing and wild criticism of President Bush. They have yet to produce a plan for Iraq, and most of their actions in the War on Terror seem designed to help our enemies and make it harder for us to gather intelligence. I'm pretty concerned about just how much damage they'll cause in the next two years.

Let's hope it doesn't happen. Let's hope they tinker around with social issues and try to raise taxes and open twenty investigations into the Bush administration and behave in the obnoxious way that Democrats in power generally do. Couple that with a decent conservative Republican candidate in two years and we'll take back the government and put the grown-ups back in charge, rather than the juveniles who are about to start running the show.

Time to Vote - watch out for those crying wolf - again

Tomorrow is the big day. I'll be going to the polls. Not bright and early... I have to be at work the same time the polls open, but you can be sure I'll be there after I leave work for the day.

This will be an election to watch. The liberal mainstream media has been salivating over the possibility that the Democrats will regain control of either one or both Houses of Congress. They've not only been drooling with anticipation, they've actively been trying to make it happen. From skewed poll methodologies to the Foley scandal to the constant feed of nothing but negative from Iraq, they've tried to chip away at Republican support, and suppress evangelical turnout.

It gets worse. The premptive strikes against the integrity of our system started early this year. Stories about "the problems" with electronic voting began back during the summer, and continue. Just in case the results are not to their liking, they can say "we told you so... take a look back at story x from August! We knew this would happen!!"

Our system is slowly being undermined. Not by non-existent fraud by the Bush administration and boogeyman-in-chief Karl Rove, but by the "cry wolf" media and their buddies in the Democratic Party. By hook or by crook they are determined to win or take the country down with them. The grand irony of all this is that the Democrat party, the party that perfected stealing elections and registering the dead and the illegal immigrants to vote for them are the very party that protest their innocence.

Every time they accuse the Republicans of wrongdoing, you can be sure they are the guilty party, ascribing their actions to someone else. EVERY TIME.

Go out and vote. Don't be talked into not voting by the mainstream media. Ignore the polls that have been weighted with more Democrat than Republicans to obtain skewed results. Go out and vote, and then accept the results. The next election is always two years away, and contrary to what the delusional on the left claim, martial law has not been declared.

Which is a bigger win for the Islamofascists?

Is it better for them if the Republicans win and we stay in Iraq, or is it better if the Democrats win and force us out?

It does seem like an easy and obvious question, doesn't it? Of course it's better for them if we leave. We'd stop killing so many of their foot soldiers, and they'd have an enormous propganda victory which they could use for recruiting.

Right now, it's "Come to Iraq and become a martyr by helping us drive out the United States and the Zionists!"

If we leave, it'll be "We beat the United States. We can beat anyone. You go fight in Great Britain. You go to France. You go to Japan. We cannot be beaten. They have no stomach for a fight."

It's all common sense, and yet if you listen to some, they'll try and tell you that the United States' presence in Iraq is just what the insurgency wants. Think about that carefully. Certainly our presence there is a recruitment tool, but is it really what they want? Even if they want a war against the west, which they so plainly do, don't you think they'd rather fight it over here rather than in their country? Don't you think the slogan "we beat America" would be far more effective than "come to Iraq and die"?

Common sense says yes. We'd better not leave Iraq until the job is done. It's suicidal to leave and hope the problem solves itself.