Well, wasn’t that… um… interesting.
I gotta admit I am absolutely gobsmacked over the results of New Hampshire’s primary. I did not expect the results we got.
My gut said that we would not go for Hillary Clinton. I thought we’d kick her sorry ass to the curb. But that vapid twit I met Saturday night apparently showed up with all her insipid little friends and voted with their… well, it wasn’t their overly-perforated heads, that’s all I’ll say.
The vibe I got right up through the primary was that Obama would take it running away. But the morning of the primary, I heard one of those babbling idiots call in a local talk show and ask if it was true that Obama was a secret Muslim who took his Senate oath of office on a Koran and all that bullshit. The host immediately went to Snopes and read the entry, but somehow missed the “false” at the top and presented it as all true. I called in and howled in protest, and she did correct it after the commercial break.
But I think that the morons and assholes who are pushing these rumors did their damage here in New Hampshire. Of the four top Democrats, I thought we’d see through the guises of Hillary Clinton and John Edwards and send their asses packing. I figured Obama and Richardson would do better.
I guess there’s still some life in the Clinton political machine.
Now for the obligatory “blame Massachusetts” part.
One of the biggest demographic factors in New Hampshire over the last few years has been people who get fed up with the Bay State’s disgustingly high taxes and grotesque nanny-statism and… well, this is the state that gave the nation Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Mike Dukakis, Tip O’Neill, and Ted Kennedy. (Some things bear repeating.) They come north to get away from all that.
And then start working towards getting a lot of the things they left behind, not making the connection between demanding the state give you all you want and the price to be paid for all that. One great example is state representative Anthony DiFruscia of Salem, New Hampshire. He served in the Massachusetts legislature before moving up here, where he ran for — and won — a seat here. Now he wants to bump the pay of lawmakers from the $100 per year it is now to $100 per week. It’s still a far cry from the $50,000+ a Massachusetts lawmaker pulls in, but it’s a step in that wrong direction.
What we need are fewer immigrants like DiFruscia, and more like Bruce or Giacomo.
On the Republican side… I’m going to attribute it to a question of character — or, at least, perceived character.
John McCain is an honorable man. His military record and devotion to our country are absolutely unquestionable.
But he’s just been so incredibly wrong on so many issues. I don’t question his integrity or his dedication, but his judgment.
McCain was one-half of the team that brought us the insanely unconstitutional McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Law. (Yes, I know that it’s been approved by the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s my unscholarly opinion that they got it wrong.) Part of me hopes he does get the nomination so he can get hoist on his own petard — and then loses, so he can go back to the Senate and fix it.
He’s wrong on the illegal alien question. He teamed up with Ted Kennedy on that last abortion of an immigration bill. If you need any proof how bad that was, let me just point out two facts:
1) That the bill was defeated has proven to be a great encouragement for many illegal aliens to pack up and deport themselves;
B) Ted Kennedy was instrumental in the last two horrifically disastrous immigration bills — the Immigration And Nationality Act Of 1965 and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
In 1965, Teddy blasted critics of that bill by declaring that “”…our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually…. Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset….”
The Act worked so well that the number of illegal aliens went from about one million in 1965 to six million in 1986. That’s when Ted Kennedy brought up another reform measure. When pushing this one, he proclaimed that “(t)his amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1-1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We well never again bring forward another Amnesty Bill like this.”
Naturally, the number of illegals went from 6 million to 12-20 million, so 21 years later, he brought up a third one — apparently on the theory that “I was dead wrong and triggered disasters twice before, so why not let me try it a third time.” And John McCain was eager to sign on to Teddy’s plan.
Finally, John McCain was a part of the “Gang Of Fourteen” senators that appointed themselves arbiters of judicial nominations. The compromise had the Republicans make an absolute renouncement of their biggest weapon, while the Democrats were saddled with the most weaselly of restrictions — they would only give up theirs “all but extraordinary circumstances,” which were promptly defined after the deal was struck as “any Supreme Court nomination, or any other case we feel is extraordinary.” In plain English: “You won’t hit me ever, no matter what, and I’ll only hit you if I really, really think you deserve it.”
Congratulations, Senator. Much like John Kerry, you’ve been rewarded not for your service in the Senate, but deeds of valor while wearing our country’s uniform. Unlike Kerry, McCain’s honorable record is absolutely beyond reproach, and represents loyalty and dedication above and beyond what most people could deliver.
Also unlike Kerry, McCain has a lengthy record of accomplishments in the Senate. And it is that record that is far more relevant to his quest to be president. And it is that record that cost him my vote yesterday.
However, my opinion didn’t hold sway among my fellow Granite Staters. McCain got the clear win, and resurrected his campaign here. Romney was wounded yet again, and somehow the Ron Paul nuts scored a dismaying eight percent.
Now we’ll go back to our obscurity for the next couple of years, until the fight over who gets the first primary heats up yet again.
