My Dinner With Gore Vidal

Okay, Lyn Davis Lear's dinner with Gore Vidal, mentioned in her entry at the Huffington Post. But if you want proof that as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, GOP fortunes are rising, too, see below. So much so, in fact, that I now fully expect we will see a retention of both the House and the Senate by the GOP.

Read this below and keep in mind these are not adolescent Left wing bloggers hacking away in their parent's basement. These individuals represent both the money and the thought which has become the Democrat Party of today.

Since the Foley scandal broke ... and mostly faded despite the best efforts of the MSM, that party has failed to put forth any type of serious agenda demonstrating that it is capable of managing the country today.

They gained and have now lost the momentum and because they fear being genuinely honest about what they would do, assuming they were to gain control, they have left the ball on the playing field. That ball has been taken up by the GOP.

I had a conversation similar to the one below with a moderate Dem recently, one who has hated the Iraq war since the start. Without selling any ideology, at the end I simply asked them, so come November what is it you are going to do?

I detest the war, they said. But the Democrats are going to raise my taxes and they don't even want us spying on these people who want to come here and kill us. I'll be voting Republican in November.

Read the lofty insight of the Democrat Party of today below and you'll know that they are not prepared to gain control of anything more than a House in Malibu and certainly not a House of Congress in the USA.

These people are certifiably insane.

Even Republican strategists are increasingly concerned because the White House doesn't have a plan if they lose. This lack of planning shouldn't surprise anyone, but if you really think about it a creepy, crawly feeling grows in your gut.

Here are some questions: Are these guys simply narcissistic idiots Rove-ing around in some never-never land bubble or do they know something we don't? Have they planned a grab bag nose punch of an October/November surprise? Or have Diebold, ES&S, and local state secretaries assured them that they will do "whatever it takes" to get a Republican Congress elected again? Or are they just planning to outspend us? Karl Rove recently told the Washington Times, "For most Americans, particularly the marginal voters who are going to determine the outcome of the election, it started a couple of weeks ago... Between now and the election we will spend $100 million in target House and Senate races in the next 21 days". That is $30 million a week in 15 or 16 key races. Knowing this group, the answers must lie in a clever blitzkrieg combo of all of the above.

When I asked Gore Vidal at dinner why the White House seemed so serene and at ease about the vote, he replied that, this time around, the Bush-Cheney henchmen could simply call on martial law. He glumly noted that we are so far down the road toward totalitarianism that, even if Democrats do win back the Congress, it would take at least two generations before the last six years of damage to the nation could be reversed. Gore frankly despaired that any amount of time could ever return the country to where and what it previously was....

Therefore we should all be on alert. If for whatever reason we don't win back Congress in November the only real answer will be to take to the streets.

Comments

[Diva]

Dan - there are many moderate democrats who feel the same way as your friend. I personally do not trust the current batch of Democrats (they're more like European Socialist (shudder)) with our national security number one, I don't trust them with my money (taxes) and I don't trust that they have a true strategy. I am not completely enamoured with the GOP's alternatives but when it comes down to making a choice my vote goes to the guys who are going to be serious about national security and who aren't going to take more than their fair share of my very hard earned wages - that means the GOP.

[WWU Vet (I served, did you?)]

The Republicans are likely to maintain both chambers of Congress. I've known this all along. I'm not even sure they want this though. Think of how valuable a tool an obstructionist congress would be in '08 when the elections that really matter will take place. Right now the perception of the Republicans is that of a ruling party that has held power for too long.

The biggest fear the Republicans should have is of a McCain victory in '08. Losing a chamber of the House for 2 years means little in the long run. But McCain gets the nomination and wins and the political center of this country shifts leftward, and the name of the GOP gets tarnished in the process.

The Republicans should WANT the libs to take congress for two years (and you can bet McCain will be cooperating with them). That would make a candidate like Brownback look like a refreshing alternative come '08 instead of a continuation of a tiring old regime.

[Scaramouche]

How are they certifiably insane?

If the elections outcomes defy all polling predictions and there are severe irregularities in voting patterns and turnout, would you say that is the will of the people?

Not that I expect people to take to the streets, at least not in rural areas. But what would it take for you to accept that there was meddling in the process? Wholesale dis-enfranchisement, or voter rolls purged due to the differnce in addresses.

Presonally, I doubt people will take to the streets over this as it would be more likely they'd go nuts over an expossed corruption in determining "American Idol."

Sad, sad day for democracy...

[Dan Riehl]

"How are they certifiably insane?

If the elections outcomes defy all polling predictions ..."

Your table is ready ... it's in the rubber room. ; )

[Phoenix]

Aw. I'm so sad that Mr. Vidal is despairing. Shucks.

About that last line...'taking to the streets' ? And do what? Yell and burn the republican flag? Moon the press?

[Ric Locke]

"If the elections outcomes defy all polling predictions and there are severe irregularities in voting patterns and turnout, would you say that is the will of the people?" -- Scaramouche

I can pretty well guarantee that the elections' outcomes will "defy all polling predictions" because the polls, as reported, are manipulated by the Media to always predict a victory by the Democrats. After all, they don't know anybody who votes Republican.

And I can guarantee that there will be severe irregularities in voting patterns and turnout, resulting from Democratic canvassers hiring Gray Line to take their plantation crop on a tour of the polling places. Have breakfast, vote, stop for coffee and doughnuts, vote, lunch, vote, afternoon snack, vote, dinner, back to the home ward to vote. What will be reported will be the complaints of the participants. "I've seen this ballot four times and I still can't figure it out! Disqualify the Republican!"

Good luck taking it to the streets. Zero tolerance for weapons and violence, right? Have fun.

Regards,
Ric

[Nahanni]

Scaramouche,

"If the elections outcomes defy all polling predictions"

Hun if you haven't figured it out by now those MSM "polls" are propaganda tools, not true polls. They are heavily weighted towards the Democrats and the age group that they think will give them the answers they want. The true polls are the internal polls and we don't get to see them, but we can tell what they say by how people react. What they are telling me right now is that Foleygate backfired on the Democrats and the blowback is beginning. Couple that with things that have happened both here and around the world in the last couple weeks do not bode well for the Democrats. Why? Because when it comes right down to it the majority of people in this country do not trust the Democrats to protect and safguard the country.

The problem is the LLL supporters of the Democrats are stupid enough to buy into their own propaganda and believe it is the truth.

"there are severe irregularities in voting patterns and turnout"

I would have to say that if McCaskill wins in Missouri there is enough evidence documented of irregularities on the part of the Democrats and their associates as of now to overthrow that election. The Democrats have also tried their best to steal two seats in the house via legal hijinx which will backfire on them.

"But what would it take for you to accept that there was meddling in the process?"

The Democratic party has been meddling in the process for decades. If Richard Nixon were alive he could tell you all about how the election was stolen from him in 1960 by the Democratic machine of Chicago where "vote early-vote often" was (and still is) their motto. Their activities have increased and diversified. From the legal hijinx they pulled to keep the Republicans from replacing Tom Delay on the ballot in TX-22 to the illegal voter registrations by the McCaskill campaign in Missouri there is appears to be little the Democrats won't do to get back in power.

"Wholesale dis-enfranchisement, or voter rolls purged due to the differnce in addresses."

Yes, Goofy and Mickey Mouse might still feel disenfranchised in Ohio. So will all those "voters" the Democrats registered who are not legally allowed to vote.

Sad, sad day for democracy...

Yes, I will admit that what I have seen so far out of the Democratic party this year is sickening. They are so desperate for power that they are using campaign tactics straight out of the totalitarian playbook to get back in power.

[Mister Snitch!]

They keep mentioning Rove on NPR, Dan, and their take is that he's putting up some kind of false front for the Republicans (Rove's been saying that he does not see the Republicans losing their majority). He can't possibly have any insight, I guess, eh? After all, what could one of history's most brilliant political strategists know about human behavior? (That's right, brilliant - and if he worked for the Democrats, that's the story the media would be feeding you.)

On the other hand, some conspiracy theorists are seeing Rove's optimism as evidence of a hidden conspiracy to fix the election. (If the Dems lose, they can say 'told you so' and live on bitterness and hate for months. If they win, it will be in spite of the fact that the fix was in, and they can gloat over that for months. So the pundit taking this stance 'wins' either way.)

No one on the left says, 'This guy has a great track record, and has an inside track like nobody else. He probably is privy to information -secret polls or something - that we don't have, or sees things in a way we can't. Since he's so willing to be open, let's question him more closely and see if we can learn anything that will help us in the future.' If you had Warren Buffet sitting around talking about how to make money, would you shut up and listen or drown him out with complaints that he was too damn rich?

Pearls before... well, you know.