While Republicans are rubbing their hands in glee at the sheer number of Democrat incumbents not running for re-election, I am ambivalent.
Look, the Republicans are not nearly as shady and devious as the vicious party. What the Republicans lack in malevolence, they try to make up for with earnestness. But make no mistake, the Democrats never back down, never give up, never give in. They don't. They are pit-bulls. And while the Democrats are devoid of good ideas and good governance, they excel in abhorrent and detestable tactics in winning. Stealth.
The Democrat strategy for 2010 is clear. They are going to make it about the candidates, not the party, when in fact it is party, party, party. The Democrats are socialists, and the party platform has moved so left it is virtually anti-capitalism, anti-individual. And that is what America has responded to viscerally to this past year. Tea parties, town halls, election after election -- America is responding to President L-Dopa. Obama is merely the repulsive face of the party, but it is not just him, it's all of them. It's the party. It's the ideology, not particular candidates.
I expect the Democrats to pull their moderate ruse by throwing up bunches of blue dogs to con the people. Then they will continue to ramrod the American people with their collectivist, statist agenda.
The retirements are a strategy. Everyone under the bus for the good of the state.
What is really tragic is the right's inability to capture this moment, ripe as it is. Instead of seizing the moment in the war of ideas and grasping the mantle of America's unabashed exceptionalism, defending constitutional principles and remaining steadfast and true, the right keeps moving to ............the left.
Swindling Senator Chris Dodd will not seek re-election; the drug-addled Patrick Kennedy will not be seeking re-election in Rhode Island; Arkansas Congressman Marion Berry and Senator Byron Dorgan are leaving. Then there's Michigan Democratic Lt. Gov. John Cherry’s decision to end his floundering bid for governor. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter is also retiring. Not to mention the stunning late December party switch by freshman Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith -- just to mention a few.
They will run new faces without records soiled by the horrendous anti-American, anti-business, anti-national security, anti-individual, anti-small government, anti-tax cut record -- and sucker the American people, yet again.
See the new face, same as the old face. See the new left, same as the old left.
Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh will not seek re-election this year, a decision that hands Republicans a prime pickup opportunity in the middle of the country."After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned," Bayh will say.
Bayh will announce the decision at a press conference later today. He was first elected to the Senate in 1998 and was re-elected easily in 2004. National Republicans had recruited former Sen. Dan Coats to challenge Bayh in 2010 although polling suggested Bayh began the race with a 20-point edge. He also had $13 million in the bank at the end of the year.
Prior to being in the Senate, Bayh served two terms as governor of the Hoosier State. He also served briefly as Secretary of State.
