A Voice in the Wilderness In Defense of "Mere Conservatism"

Teddy’s Seat Is Up For Grabs in MA

The People's Repbulic of Massachusetts has been the progressive-Left trend-setter in the Union for some time.  Ted Kennedy, who passed away last August, had held the seat for nearly half a century.  His heir apparent, MA Attorney General Martha Coakley, was recently ahead of the GOP challenger Scott Brown by 30 points in the polls.

Times change.

The potential 60th vote for health care in the senate is now up for grabs.  Columnist Jonah Goldberg has what I consider to be the best take on what led to the Democrats' being this close to losing a political race that no one thought it possible for them to lose.

An excerpt:

The Democratic party is panicking like brothel patrons with the cops at the door. They’re dropping shock troops of muckety-mucks, hacks, spinners, and door-knockers into Boston like Rangers into Normandy.

Meanwhile, the liberal press establishment is in near-total denial. Yes, the race is getting a lot of attention, but Coakley’s problems are being chalked up to the fact that she is a bad campaigner and this is a bad “climate” for the Democrats.

They use “climate” to suggest that things are bad for Democrats for reasons beyond their control (ironically, they don’t talk about the climate that way when it comes to global warming). Orange growers in Florida can’t be blamed for a bad crop if the climate won’t cooperate, and Democrats can’t be held accountable for their crop failure now. It’s the economy! It’s the obstructionism of the Republicans and that satanic whatchamacallit, the filibuster. Jupiter is aligned with Mars, NutraSweet has poisoned the water supply, Lost has been on hiatus too long, Mongo likes candy: It’s the climate, you see, the horrible, horrible climate! Democrats didn’t do anything wrong!

Except they did.

The Democrats’ “bad climate” is a direct result of how they’ve governed. The populist backlash is fueled by a sense that Democrats are acting on their preferred agenda and by their own rules. From the shenanigans of the people who write our tax code and collect our taxes to special deals and secret arrangements for big businesses and legislators who play ball, the Democrats have abandoned transparency in favor of transparent arrogance.

Read the rest here.

Oh, and you really don't want to miss this tasty gem from candidate Coakley where she claims that Curt Schilling, former Red Sox pitcher and supporter of challenger Scott Brown, is nothing but a "Yankees fan."  (Note: Schilling is not a Yankees fan.)

Ever heard of being desperate?