House GOP Drop Outs & Democrat Debate Set The Stage For 2020 Election

Congrats to Republican Dan Bishop for winning the special election earlier this month in North Carolina's ninth congressional district (NC-09).  It was a hard fought victory – in fact too hard fought & that is the problem.

 

The race was the last unresolved House race for the 2018 midterm election.  The special election was ordered after the previous Republican candidate was charged with fraud for tampering with absentee ballots after apparently winning by 900 votes.

 

Bishop beat his opponent Democrat Dan Macready by 2 percentage points 50.7% to 48.7% or 3,937 votes – a razor thin margin when you consider that 189,363 votes were cast.  But still a low one third turnout – source Kyle Peterson on JER. 

 

This is not a case of a win is a win.  This win comes with some baggage. 

 

NC-09 has been represented in the House by a Republican since 1963.  Both Trump & Mitt won the district by 12 percentage points.  Trump & Pence each campaigned, all in, for Bishop the day before the election period closed, election day, with Trump holding a standing room only KAG rally on that Monday night.  Bishop & Republican groups spent over $6 million to get this election result.

 

The problem is that Bishop's margin of victory in NC-09 did nothing to "convince House Republicans undecided about seeking reelection in 2020 that they're in a position to win back the majority" said Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report who added it "is still bad news for the House GOP overall."

 

House Republicans need to win a net 19 seats to retake the House majority & remove Nancy Pelosi as Speaker.  There are 35 GOP-held House seats that are less favorable than the staunchly Republican NC-09.  Democrat incumbents only represent four districts where Trump won by more than the 12 points he did in NC- 09 (MN-07 by 31%, NY-22 by 15%, OK –05 by 14%, & SC –01 by 13%).

 

In addition, 2020 is a year that the Constitution requires the federal government to complete a census from which reapportionment - the reallocation of congressional seats - will take place.  Some states will lose seats & some will gain seats.  Both parties will go all out to control the redistricting (gerrymandering) process that shapes congressional & state legislative districts for the next ten years.

 

The one bright spot from the NC-09 special election is the result from Cumberland County – a county with a 35% black population.  Trump lost Cumberland County by 20,000 votes in 2016 but Bishop actually won it by 0.3%.  As of August black & Asian unemployment rates are all-time record lows & the Hispanic unemployment rate tied its previous all-time low – source Bureau Of Labor Statistics.  The black unemployment rate narrowed in August to the smallest gap ever with the white unemployment rate.  The type of black voter turnaround in NC- 09 would be stunning if carried over nationally to the presidential race in 2020 & Hispanics & Asians followed suit.  

 

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

 

It was late July when the slew of House Republican retirements began coming in that started worrying Republicans & many conservatives – especially since so many of these politicians who suddenly wanted to spend more time with their families were from Texas – a state that looks to be in the process of turning blue.

 

But a detailed look @ the record of these GOP retirees shows that virtually all of them have been little or no help to Trump & definitely none to our Republic & the Constitution they took an oath to support & defend.

 

Texas congressmen Pete Olson (F @ 46%), Mike Conaway (F @ 42%), Will Hurd (F @ 20%), Bill Flores (F @ 51%), & Kenny Marchant (D @ 67%) are all retiring.  Their grades & liberty scores, shown next to their names, are indicative of the majority of incumbent Republicans - they are little better than Democrats, everyone of which is an F.  Other than Conway, who won 80% to 20% in his last election, & Flores, who won 58% to 42% in his last election, the other three retiring Texas GOP drop outs won their last election by less than 5 percentage points meaning they foresaw the losing electoral writing on the wall in 2020.  The results of the NC-09 special election only confirmed the correctness of their decision to drop out.

 

Other well known early House Republican drop outs were Rob Bishop of Utah (F @ 46%), Martha Roby of Alabama (F @ 52%), & Susan Brooks of Indiana (F @ 30%).  In the ultimate of ironies Susan Brooks is the NRCC's recruitment chairwomen – an F @ 30% is the Republican recruitment chairwomen?  Oh, please.

 

Then, @ the end of August, Wisconsin congressman Sean Duffy announced his retirement the day after appearing on FNC for an hour with Steve Hilton acting, as always, as a constitutional & fiscal conservative.  Duffy is graded F with a liberty score of 56%.

 

Finally, another Wisconsin congressman, Jim Sensenbrenner, the second longest serving House member, announced his retirement.  Sensenbrenner is graded C with a 78% liberty score which is remarkable after 40 years in Washington. 

 

The liberty scores of the above list of GOP retirees, & the knowledge that all but a handful of Republican incumbents are equally poor, shows why people who vote Republican are more often than not frustrated.  Republicans can talk a good game from time to time but then don't deliver once in office – think not repealing ObamaCare or cutting spending.  Democrats stick together because every one of them are graded F with the highest liberty scores in the 20s.

 

Democrats try to pass legislation that will destroy America while Republicans are very weak & fragmented really standing for nothing & just about all of the drop-outs so far resemble this picture.

 

Republican debates & town halls have American flags clearly displayed around the facilities & on the lapel pins of the speakers - for what it is worth.  At the Houston Democrat Party primary debate earlier this month there was no American flag visible on stage during the debate & only Biden & Yang wore American flag lapel pins & Yang had his on the wrong side of his jacket according to the U.S. Flag Code Section 8(J).  Bernie wore a lapel pin but not an American flag lapel pin.

 

Though not televised – it was live streamed only - the national anthem was sung prior to the aforementioned debate by Breanna Lindsey, a 20 year old student @ Texas Southern University – a large public historically black university (HBCU) where the debate was held.  The American flag was visible on the side of the auditorium during Breanna's fine rendition but not on the stage behind the debaters.  See photo below.

 

 click on photo to enlarge.

 

The flag was not seen by the television audience once the debate started.

 

Now not wearing lapel pins & not displaying the flag of a group of people you are trying to control are the type of silly mistakes that Saul Alinsky warned against in Rules For Radicals.  Alinsky taught that a community organizer – or in this case national organizer running for president – should blend in with the people to make it look like he or she was one of them – i.e., he or she was on their side.  Not wearing a pin or showing a flag were stupid misjudgments that could only make it harder for an enterprising organizer to be successful in winning over a group.

 

Now the most alarming thought of all is that the Democrat presidential primary candidates, who all know & practice the Alinsky method, are not trying to blend in with the unsuspecting Americans who are too busy enjoying America to know what is happening, but rather these presidential aspirants are showing their attractive natural feeling of closeness & understanding to the enemies of America - those who have been taught & brainwashed from an early age to hate America, those who despise our way of life so much that they can't stand seeing the American flag or a patriotic lapel pin.  What if these presidential primary candidates have correctly determined that these haters are in the majority, or @ least the voting majority, & therefore know there is more to gain by revealing their natural dislike for America too?