The World According to Oatney

McKinney and Lieberman

Last night provided an interesting mix of Democratic Primary results from which much can be gleaned. First, allow me to discuss the race from which (I am forced from honesty to admit) I gained a great deal of personal satisfaction. Cynthia "Yo' Mama" McKinney was not just beaten by Hank Johnson, he trounced her by some eighteen points. It wasn't just McKinney's wild conspiracy theories (she thinks that the President knew about 9/11 in advance and in detail and let it happen anyway) that got her beat, because the militant Left has nominated some loony tunes before (Maxine Waters and George McGovern both come to mind), but the fact that McKinney seems to believe herself above the law provided a considerable amount of fodder for her opponents after she struck a Capitol Police Officer earlier this year.

I think it says a lot about McKinney and the kind of people who support her that her campaign staffers got into a fight with a television cameraman who came from a local station to cover events at her campaign (no word on why), and then blamed "all the press in the room" for injuring her mother. McKinney went on to explain to us, the uninformed and the stupid, that "electronic voting machines are a threat to our democracy." Really? Well, as a bit of a historical refresher, the same people who are now denouncing voting machines as "a threat to our democracy," were the same sorts who advocated that states switch from the paper ballot, which they said was antiquated and easily open to fraud, to punch cards and ultimately to electronic voting machines. Now the machines and reforms that many of those folks demanded are in place, and their guys and gals are still getting beat-so now the machines they wanted to begin with are to blame. Heck, Cynthia (and all)-paper ballots are a problem, scan-trons are a problem, punch cards are a problem, and now electronic voting machines are a problem. What's the best way to insure there is no "threat to democracy..."not vote at all? Needless to say, DeKalb County officials expect McKinney to be a sore loser.

The defeat of Senator Joseph Lieberman has made news around the world today, as he lost a narrow race to anti-war challenger Ned Lamont. Leading Democrats and media pundits have framed Lieberman's loss as voter reaction to the War in Iraq and I think there is a lot of truth to that. However, Mr. Lamont's victory could be pointing to a political reshuffle that goes far beyond the issue of the war. Democrats may be saying (as a party) that they wish to shed the Party model of the Democratic Leadership Council and return that party to a hard-left ideological stance. If that is what is happening, it could be bad news in the short term for the GOP in this year of discontent with the White House, but good news in the long term for the Republicans in 2008, who may successfully be able to paint the Democrats as rabid left-wing extremists.

This race should be interesting to watch, as Lieberman says he will run as an independent. He will likely split the Republican vote and has a built-in base of support among Democrats, and that means that he could win re-election by a narrow margin.


(Note: Sorry for the late post. Today is our wedding anniversary.)

posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 2:52 PM