This post was written by Bob Shannon
The performances of the Republican U.S. Senate Candidates was widely reported without much news being made, the candidates stuck very close to their platforms. E. W Jackson was to have scored some points with his impassioned and fiery delivery. Outside that one note it was not far off from what was expected. To the credit of all four of the Republican candidates the major issues facing the U.S. and equally important their proposed remedies were the focus of the discussions.
Contrast that with the same days news of former Governor and Democratic Senate candidate Tim Kaine and the reports of how he spent his day. First a meeting on Social Security & Medicare in Roanoke, then on to Richmond to hold a meeting on Women’s Issues. With the “game on” for the fall elections it is abundantly clear just what strategy the Democrats have in store as their main campaign theme. Divide and conquer is the only hope they have of retaining the White House and clinging to a narrow majority margin in the U.S. Senate.
Scare the seniors with stories on how Republicans will destroy the social safety net and horrify women on how the Republicans have a secret plan to drag women back to the turn of the 19 th Century. Major issues such as energy policy, or the lack thereof, and entitlement reform are clearly not on their radar screen. Certainly they can’t run on the dismal record of the last 3 ½ years, which leaves them with the only tried and true option that they sadly have left.
The Democratic party today is comprised of a handful of well defined factions, identity politics all the way. They refuse to address in any meaningful way the real problems that the nation faces starting with the fiscal insolvency . They have only one card left to play, scare various identity groups and hope to form just enough of a coalition to guide themselves to election victory. “ Pandering to fear” should be their bumper sticker , it is all they philosophically know.
Informed citizens can’t be that easily duped. The growing unease and recognition the Nation is on the wrong path is showing up in the polls as a driving factor in how people will vote. Republican candidates need to take this grand lie strategy head on and patiently explain to the very voters the Democrats are trying to scare that left unchecked these programs will collapse, and soon if they are not reformed. The phony women’s rights war is even easier. If it comes up in a debate just tell the truth, a woman graduating from Georgetown Law is expected to earn on average $160,000 her first year. She can afford her own contraception without asking taxpayers to pay for it. God forbid she elect to stay home.
Bob Shannon
Article written by: Tom White