Now the Tea Party has really done it

[babylonsister]

:nopity::nopity:

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/09/14/tea_party_delaware_results/index.html

Now the Tea Party has really done it
Christine O'Donnell upsets Mike Castle to claim Delaware's GOP Senate nod -- and very likely cost her party a seat
By Steve Kornacki


AP

Christine O'Donnell is the new Republican Senate nominee in Delaware

snip//

Now, national Republicans will have to decide whether to support O'Donnell financially. On paper, she is doomed. PPP, the polling outfit that picked up on O'Donnell's rise on Sunday, has measured her favorable rating among general election voters at 29-50 percent. Just 31 percent of voters believe she's qualified to hold office. She was also running 26 points worse than Castle in trial heats against Chris Coons, the Democratic nominee. It is rare, if not unheard of, for such a gaping general election viability disparity to exist between two candidates in a competitive primary.

Tea Partiers, of course, will argue that O'Donnell will catch us all by surprise in November just as she did in this primary campaign. But her image with the general public seems to mirror that of the Tea Party: rabid enthusiasm among the GOP base, hostility from most others. Running in a GOP primary that was closed to independent and Democrats presented her with a voting universe just narrow enough for her to post a win. The November electorate will be much broader, and even though the casual November voters of 2010 will be strongly inclined to vote against Democrats, it's hard to imagine someone with her image problems -- which will probably only get worse with the media shining even more light on her -- garnering a majority.

Just like Sharron Angle, the Tea Party-backed GOP Senate candidate in Nevada, O'Donnell calls to mind the example of Oliver North -- a Republican who was so tarnished that he lost what should have been an unlosable election in the last big Republican year, 1994.

To win back the Senate, Republicans will need to pick up ten Democratic-held seats this falls (nine if they can then convince Joe Lieberman to caucus with them). All year they've been counting Delaware as one of those nine. But that was when Mike Castle was going to be their nominee. Now, Christine O'Donnell is, and the prospect of a Republican Senate majority in 2011 looks as slim as ever.

[deutsey]

1. I hope this happens, but I also wish the Dem's strategy wasn't: "Let's hope the GOP implodes"

[babylonsister]

2. I hear you, but that wasn't the

strategy at all until last night.

I wish there weren't so many dumb people in this country who vote for baggers.

[deutsey]

4. It is astounding, isn't it? n/t

[ginnyinWI]

3. The GOP is now the "Silly Party"

It shows how weakened it has become (thanks Dubya). The insurgents are taking over, and it won't be a good thing for them. I wonder how the moderates will be able to take it back; I suppose they'll have to go through a few of these kinds of elections first. The better the Dems govern, the longer it will take for the GOP to get back on its feet.

[elleng]

9. There ARE no 'moderate' repugs any more (except maybe in Maine?)

[DrToast]

10. The Palin Party.*

*

[tanyev]

5. I'm just trying to figure out that picture of her.

What on earth causes someone running for public office to make a face like that in public?

[The_Commonist]

6. You've obviously never seen...

...the thousands of pictures that get rejected for every one that gets published.

That was the AP deciding that they don't really like her.

[COLGATE4]

7. To win back the Senate, Republicans will need to pick up ten Democratic-held seats this falls (nine

Means they have to pick up nine seats this Fall. Anyone believe that Slimy Joe won't immediately scurry to caucus with his BFF's?

[wiggs]

8. angle is just as crazy and she may win. Paul too. I have no idea why Fiorina is

so close in CA. Palin is just as nuts and was a hair's breadth away from the WH. Tancredo was elected at one point in time. Are Boehner, Cantor, McConnell significantly more reasonable? Bush is Palin, and he was elected twice to the WH, including once after we all knew who he was!!

O'Donnell may not make it in DE, but there will still be enough crazy to go around...some will get elected and some former rational gop leaders will lean even more to the crazy fringe. And some other race may unexpectedly flip to the gop, as last minute hate-filled Citizens United corporate sponsored propaganda confuses and angers enough voters to vote against reason and their own interests once again.

I view the ODonnell victory perhaps as a temporary setback for the gop establishment, but it is a victory for those using polarization, fear, hate, and misinformation to control public discourse, raise money, motivate voters, and pollute the democratic process. The Palin/Hannity/Levin strategy worked in a major election...and that's not good news.