Atlas Shrugs

Tales from the LiveBlogging Front

On a personal note............

In all the excitement (for lack of a btter euphemism) I never got to the human element of covering the Lieberman triumph with blogger buds. I never meet or see my peers, but know them intimately. So crazy I know............

I have a new respect and admiration for Sissy over at Sisu and she with me her (an unguarded moment) . We did rock da house .........thanks Sistuh Sisu - but it's all smoke and mirrors. Tip of the ole hat to her hubby Tuck, a mightay mightay man indeed. 

Evan over at Brain Terminal was hysterical, really. And my apologies to Sol for desperately wanting to kick his ass for losing my VLOG interview with the President of those hunky FIREMEN FOR LIEBERMAN.

I had a blast even if the election was a bust. Working in the media room with all those left of center journies, smart but utterly misguided, was an eyeopener. The most memorable moment was when one elitist began making fun of Santorum's daughter for her emotional response to her father's loss. The snarky remarks were too much. They all laughed too. Until I said, "hey fellas, cut it out.  She's a kid." Would they ever, ever have done that with Chelsea?

Roger, thanks for the memories............and Sissy the heels are 4 inches but who's counting?

Good Morning America

So this is the new direction we can expect for the next two years? Great. Bad enough the Bush Doctrine is dead (the best thing to come out of the White House to secure this nation since little boy and fat man), but should the Dems pursue this insanity -  they will have no shot, I mean none, in 08. They can say what they want, but America did not vote for this. More food for thought on that here - over at STACLU;

ACLU Applauds Rumsfeld’s Resignation, Calls for Immediate Investigation Into Dereliction of Duty

Off we go into a new direction for America. You know we are off on the wrong foot towards the wrong direction when the changes taking place are cheered by the ACLU! If President Bush thinks nixing Rumsfeld is a way to finding common ground with the newly empowered Democrats and will be enough to satisfy the hunger of the left, he should think again. The ACLU, no doubt speaking the mind of the new majority, want to see his head on a fancier platter.

The Election: A Letter from a Marine

Remember the poignant letters  here and here I received from the Marine  who served two tours in Iraq? Well he wrote today and it's one for this books;

Dear Pamela,

I am the the Marine that wrote to you about the news media selling out the troops in Iraq. I also put in the Marines' two cents about the Israel-Lebanon War. Well, I'm back. This time about the elections. And they are saying this election was a referendum on Iraq.

I think you hit the nail on the head today when you said:

The Bush Doctrine was a bold, ambitious historic initiative to fight the Global Jihad but was administered to (as opposed to executed) with a half hearted, half assed, pansified plan.

You put it better than I ever could. I came to that conclusion while freezing my ass off in a pillbox last winter. The Bush Doctrine is the best strategy we have to counter the Islamics. And we did the right thing by going into Iraq. But we screwed it up shortly thereafter by not taking it serious enough.

We never had enough troops there, from the start. In Vietnam at the height of American involvement we had over 500,000 troops in country. In the first Gulf War we had about 500,000 troops in the theater. In the current war we have had about 180,000 troops in Iraq at the height. We've been in Iraq for over 3 years and much work is still to be done. As I see it we've defeated the Sunni insurgency and what we are seeing is Iran stirring the pot and telling the Shia to rebel now.

If we'd have committed to Iraq like we committed to Vietnam the campaign in Iraq would be over. it would never have gotten as bad as it did. It really shows me what's happening when we get to Iraq and my company's Area of Operations (AO) is as big as a batallion should have and batallion's is as big as a regiment and regiment's is as big as a division and division has a corps sized AO. Why is that? Because we don't have enough people over there  and we never have. that's why they are planting so many IEDs because we can't be everywhere at once and there are not enough eyes on the ground to stop them. I've been to Iraq twice and I have one more deployment left while I'm in the military and that one is probably going to be Iraq too. And we can't send more troops because we don't have anymore to send. Basically half the military is in Iraq and half is home and we rotate back and forth.

And what are we going to do when It comes time to fight Iran? Iran is not Iraq. It's three times bigger in size, it's mountainous not desert, it's population is huge, they are Shia not Sunni, they are Persians not Arabs. Iran is a whole different beast that requires a whole different taming process. And though we don't want to fight Iran you know as well as I do that they want to fight us. And if we try to do Iran the way we did Iraq, it's not going to work. Granted, we have learned much in Iraq, many hard lessons that will help in Iran, but it will still be tough.

So what am I saying? I'm saying reinstate the draft. Make everyone serve. 2 years, one deployment. 6 months in country, that's it. I guarantee this problem would be fixed. You know as well as I do that this is a world war and Iraq is just a single battle in the war. We can pull off Iraq without the draft, but not the rest of the war. This is a world war and we should treat it as such. We should have reinstated the Draft after 9-11 and stopped building cars and made tanks instead, like WW2. But instead we half-assed it. We're still half assing it and we're going to continue to half ass it.

Look at how we (Condoleeza Rice) stopped Israel from destroying Hizbullah this summer. We Marines felt betrayed by that because that's onr more enemy for us to fight. Don't forget the border situation. When I got back from Iraq this year I came home to people pulling down American flags from public flag poles and running up Mexican flags. That was an Insult.  And the Repubs did nothing. And so I'm glad the Republicans lost. They (we) deserved to lose. They bickered, argued, procrastinated and wasted their time and oppurtunity to make a difference and get something done. I just hope that we can get our acts together for 2008. And I hope we mean business when we do get back together.

Go back the to the fight Pamela, it's an important one. I see you as a fighter on my behalf and I appreciate you.

You go back to your fight and I'll go back to mine. Many Thanks and Best Wishes.

-Name deleted by Atlas

 Related:
A US Marine's Letter on Israel
Marine's letter: "STABBED IN THE BACK BY THE MEDIA" 

 

Atlas Shrugged

I am heading back to New York and back to the fight. The election is instructive. It was not a vote for a "Democratic plan or platform," there is none. It was a Republican smack down. It was not a vote for Pelosi politics.

The Bush Doctrine was a bold,  ambitious historic initiative to fight the Global Jihad  but was administered to (as opposed to executed) with a half hearted, half assed, pansified plan.

Big government, immigration, the big issues that  Americans were passionate about all but languished. But the contraindications of the slap down will be as Jim, one of  my readers wrote;

Selling out the troops to Al-Queda
Selling out Israel to Hezbollah
Selling out the economy to welfare pimps
Selling out the tax cuts and a robust economy.
Selling out good to evil.

Looking in the rearview mirror. That's what the Republicans should be doing going forward. They squandered their historic majority and they were punished. But let's not kid ourselves. The American people have been clubbed to death like baby seals by a drive by, jihad loving media and it took its toll. Years and years of lies and propaganda had its effect. The economy is the best case in point. We are experiencing the  strongest most robust economy in recent history and if you listened to the media you'd have thought we were in the midst of a great depression. But it had it's effect. It certainly had it delterious effect on the public's perception of the war on Iraq - practically rooting for the enemy.

This is why the blogosphere is of critical importance. Where else will people get the facts? The news. If we build it, they will come. And so we must build it.

What others are saying;

Tribemike at Free Republic:

"Nice Guys" finish last....inevitable. You are either perceived as weak or lacking passion.

Notice how Democrats move LOCK STEP AGAINST ANYTHING Republicans do...Bush do anything right? IMPOSSIBLE !

On the other hand, Republicans are constantly reaching out, accommodating, deferential...GAG, GAG, GAG.

"Wrong Direction" polls - Democrats state something like 90-10 on that one...they concede NOTHING and simply REFUSE to be ruled by republican anything. Republicans just try to get along.

Someone on this forum said politics is a bloodsport - so true. Democrats are ALWAYS on the attack while Republicans try to play nice and find the noble intention in their enemies somewhere.

To not hold the Senate is inexcusable. All the close races lost (VA, Montana, Missouri)...unbelievable

Charles Johnson at little green footballs

for the 2006 election. With the House in Democrat control, we can expect to see flying subpoenas and impeachment hearings, and big parties across the Middle East.

Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters

This is a big loss, and it will hurt the GOP and the Bush administration. Even if we do hold the Senate, we will have to find compromise candidates for the federal bench, and also look forward to more taxes and regulation. Free trade is a goner. The prosecution of the war on terror will get limited by a probable repeal of the Patriot Act, or at least an attempt to do so, and I'm very sure the Democrats will move to defund the operations in Iraq by a date certain in order to force a "phased redeployment".

And that's not even counting the myriad investigations that Democrats will launch against the Bush administration. Republicans will keep it from getting out of hand, but the Democrats will want to build enough damaging allegations to win again in 2008.

However, in terms of policy at least, the American people have spoken. The majority endorsed these views, and now we have to see them play out. We can certainly criticize it -- and we will -- but we have to respect the voice of the American electorate. They wanted a different direction, and now they have to experience its consequences.

Michelle Malkin

Conservatism did not lose

... The GOP lost. Conservatism prevailed. "San Francisco values" may control the gavels in Congress, but they do not control America. Property rights initiatives limiting eminent domain won big. MCRI, the anti-racial preference measure, passed resoundingly. Congressman Tom Tancredo, the GOP's leading warrior against illegal immigration--opposed by both the open-borders Left and the open-borders White House--won a fifth term handily. Gay marriage bans won approval in 3 states. And as of this writing, the oil tax initiative, Prop. 87--backed by deep-pocketed Hollywood libs, is trailing badly in California.

Jonah Goldberg at The Corner (National Review Online)

How Bush Should Handle Loss [Jonah Goldberg] I think James Baker and Dick Cheney should take Bush out to the woods around Camp David. After 24 hours in a sweat lodge, he should be given only a loin cloth, a hunting knife and a canteen of water. Bush should then set out to track and kill a black bear, after which he should eat its still beating heart so he can absorb its spirit. He should then fly back to Washington in Marine 1. His torso still scratched from the bear's claws, his face bloodied and steaming in the November chill, he should immediately give a press conference at which he throws the bearskin on the front row of the press corps, completely enveloping Helen Thomas, declaring, "I'm not going anywhere."

This will send important messages to Democrats and well as to our enemies overseas, who are no doubt high-fiving as we speak.

But I really liked what Hugh Hewitt had to say going forward.

The Good News And The Bad

I have to assume that the Dems will get the Senate as well as the House, though Conrad Burns may be able to pull off an upset, in which case I hope the GOP in the Senate reject the silly rules they agreed to the last time the body was 50/50.  They got no cooperation from Dems over the past two years, and if by good luck and the Veep's vote they have the majority, they have got to begin to use it.

The long and short of this bad but not horrific night was that majorities must act like majorities.  The public cares little for the "traditions" of the Senate or the way the appropriations process used to work.  It demands results.  Handed a large majority, the GOP frittered it away.  The chief fritterer was Senator McCain and his Gang of 14 and Kennedy-McCain immigration bill, supplemented by a last minute throw down that prevented the NSA bill from progressing or the key judicial nominations from receiving a vote.  His accomplice in that master stroke was Senator Graham.  Together they cost their friend Mike DeWine his seat in the Senate, and all their Republican colleagues their chairmanships.  Senator McCain should rethink his presidential run.  Amid the ruins of the GOP's majority there is a clear culprit.

A second loser was Bill Frist.  To be the Majority Leader of a majority that did not lead is lethal to his presidential ambitions.  Like Senator McCain, it would be easier on everyone if he just exited the stage.

President Bush will not flag in the pursuit of the war, and Senator Santorum is now available for a seat on the SCOTUS should one become available.  GOP senators will have the chance to select leadership equal to the new world of politics which, as the past two years have demonstrated, does not reward timidity.

House Republicans as well have to rebuild from the ground up and with an eye on those members best equipped to debate the almost certain overreaches of the Democratic majority.  From the first day of the new Congress it is going to be a partisan slugfest or a GOP dismemberment.  The GOP must find the fighters with talent and promote them.

The anti-illegal immigration absolutists got their heads handed to them.  As the fence goes up, their rhetoric must go down --dramatically. 

But there is good news as well.

Hillary's path back to the White House is much more difficult with her party in the majority in the House, and much much more difficult if the Senate falls to Harry Reid's command as well.  Clarity as to her party's fecklessness will be back within the first six months, and the GOP frontrunners --Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney-- do not have to serve in the almost certain to be paralyzed Senate.

The Beltway-Manhattan media elite is now stuck "covering" Democratic majorities.  Sure, they will go easy on them, but it is much more difficult to cover for a majority than a minority.

And it is a wonderful day for new media, especially talk radio.  For two years we have had to defend the Congressional gang that couldn't shoot straight.  Now we get to play offense. 

I am concerned for the country that the Democrats have won, but the Republicans are indeed going to find this sojourn in the minority a potentially very good thing. 

If the GOP adopts and refines the tactics the Democrats have used for the past four years all will be well two years hence, and perhaps even better than well.

OK guys, back to the great fight.

UPDATE: Let the Dems bury the Dems

 

Lieberman's Brilliant Mastermind

Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" is playing - Lieberman declares his "Declaration of Independence"

Dan Gertsein - Lieberman's campaign mastermind gives Atlas the exclusive on the brilliant strategy that made this  historic win possible - stealing a Democrat victory from this very blue state.

Deputy Communications Director Dan Gerstein -- Long-term communications strategy and planning; emphasis on policy.

UPDATE: Latest results show the Dems grabbed the house. I was wrong. Score one for the Jihad media and Islamists the world over. It seems America is  destined to learn the hard way. Thought the bloody reality of the Global Jihad was more powerful than leftist propaganda. Like I said, I was wrong.

ELECTION '06: Pajamas is in Da Hous

The gang''s all here! LIVE FROM HARTFORD at the Lieberman Campaign Party. Woot! Evan of Brain Terminal, Atlas, Andrew from Pajama Media nd Sol from Solomonia. We will be kicking ass and taking names. Look for my LIVE VLOGS  at Pajamas here.
Here the Dinosaur media  hobbling together the old technology.......

The accommodations - how funny are these guys? Gentlemen all.

ELECTION UPDATE: We are working - Sol over at Solomonia has it up here;

NATIONAL: Of the precincts that the RNC is monitoring turnout, we have a ½% turnout advantage over the 2004 turnout (GOP precincts are turning out at 32.9% of 2004 vote while DEM precincts are turning out at 32.5% of 2004 vote) 
Many states like Colorado, Nevada, Arizona have 25% of votes cast before election day.

ARIZONA
There were 60K more ballots submitted by Republicans before Election Day – and 41% of the state has already voted. 
In 2004 Exit Polling was off by 3.5% (they had it at 7%, actual results was 10.5%)

CONNECTICUT
In the precincts that the RNC is tracking turnout, GOP precincts are turning out at 8% higher rate (42% to 34%) from the 2004 vote. 

FLORIDA
Republicans have a 140K advantage though absentee and early voting before Election Day – and 36% of the state has already voted.  Exit polling got it wrong in 2000 and wrong in 2004 (4% off in 2004)

MARYLAND:
Republican absentees had pulled within even of Democrats before Election Day – in a state with a 2:1 dem registration advantage.  Of the precincts we are tracking, Republican precincts are turning out 3% higher than Dem precincts off 2004 turnout (51-43).

MISSOURI
Of the precincts we are tracking, Republican precincts are turning out 2.6% higher than Dem precincts (42.3% to 39.7%) based off of the 2004 vote. 2004 exit polls had a 3% dem bias. 

OHIO:
In 2004, exit polling was off by almost 9% (they had Kerry winning by almost 7%, we won by 2%)

TENNESSEE
(not much to say here…turnout looks against us, no exit polling from ’04 and absentee data is from MT data) In precinct turnout tracking, dem precincts are turning out 1% higher off 2004 vote.  We estimate a 1% advantage on the absentee voting.

VIRGINIA:
In 2004, exit polling had the presidential within 1%, yet President Bush won by over 8%. Of the precincts we are tracking, GOP precincts are turning out at 48% of 2004’s turnout while Dem precincts are only at 41%.

UPDATE 8:43 pm: Here at Leiberman Campaign Party -mood is "cautiously optimistic"

Oberlin said "we'd rather be our shoes, than Ned Lamont'