Midterm Elections 2006: Sifting Through the Malarkey

Immediately after Lieberman’s loss was reported, the Republican Party came out swinging. “It’s an unfortunate development, I think, from the standpoint of the Democratic Party, to see a man like Lieberman pushed aside because of his willingness to support an aggressive posture in terms of our national security strategy,’’ said Dick Cheney. The Vice-President further suggested that the ouster of the moderate candidate “might encourage al Qaeda types” (upon saying this, Mr. Cheney reportedly slithered back into his office, where he went back to sitting naked in the dark watching Fox News and polishing his flintlock rifles until his services were further required). Likewise, Republican pundits across the nation clamored in unison that the Democratic Party, having taken off its “mask” in Connecticut, was now initiating an “inquisition” against moderates within its own ranks, and that this “ultra-liberal” party of “extremists” was wrong for America.

This week, in Texas:
Gov. Rick Perry was again invited by Texas Christian pastors to attend various statewide luncheons, where he’ll speak to “conservative Christians” about the importance of voting for the Republican Party in the upcoming midterm elections if they treasure their moral values. This luncheon tour will begin exactly one year after Gov. Perry helped urge voter approval of Proposition 2, the Texas gay marriage ban passed last fall. Perry was the only Texas gubernatorial candidate invited to speak on the tour.

Last week, in Texas:
Last Tuesday, the top strategist for the Texas Republican Party confirmed to reporters that his party had indeed paid for statewide calls assessing the popularity of moderate Republicans in the Texas House with voters. One lawmaker said that the survey was part of an effort by party leadership to defeat moderate GOP incumbents in primaries, pulling the curtain back on an intraparty purge over the past few years during which moderates who've refused to "drink the Kool-Aid" of Christian Right extremism have been cast out. In response, Jeff Fisher, the party's executive director, said this was a just an attempt to identify voters who support “traditional values” for demographical purposes. “The premise of the calls was Proposition 2. We were identifying Proposition 2 voters,” said Fisher. In fact, several moderate Republican candidates have undergone attack from their more radical party-fellows over the past few years, including Rep. Carter Casteel (R-New Braunfels), who was defeated in her recent primary race by a well-funded candidate with Republican Party backing.

This week, nationwide:
Republican pollster Fred Steeper was recently hired by the Republican National Committee to “identify the most effective messages to mobilize the Republican Base for the 2006 elections and determine where the Base stands on important issues in this election cycle.” A memo reporting the results of the survey somehow leaked to the press.

Ranking overwhelmingly at the top of the list (87% of Republican voters surveyed) were “foreign threats" – the majority of Republican voters support Bush’s prosecution of the international “war on terror” and worry that Democrats will shirk this responsibility if elected, thus exposing America to greater risk from terrorist attacks. Ranking a close second in the survey (80%) was “the domestic fight against terrorism” – most Republican voters support the renewal of the Patriot Act, better border protection, and N.S.A. surveillance of phone calls and records.

*Images courtesy of Wikipedia and The Burnt Orange Report.