The victory of conservative Republican Bob Turner in New York’s Ninth Congressional District to replace the disgraced Democrat Anthony Weiner in the House of Representatives is an indication of the political earthquake we can expect in November 2012.
This special election, which pitted Turner, a 70-year-old retired cable TV executive and pro-life Catholic, against Democratic State Assemblyman David Weprin, is a significant upset in a district that has been a Democratic stronghold since the 1920s. It can only be explained by the mounting disillusionment with Barack Obama’s policies and the inability of the Democrats in Washington to improve the economy. And since this district, which covers parts of the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, is the largest Jewish district in the nation, Obama’s policy toward Israel was obviously also a factor in the way people voted. Indeed, it was former Democrat mayor Ed Koch’s backing of Turner that persuaded many Jewish voters to vote Republican.
In New York, the Independent Women's Voice (IWV) — which made 87,000 phone calls to households throughout the 9th Congressional District on behalf of the conservative Republican —congratulated Turner for his victory over Democrat David Weprin.
"The victory in New York demonstrates that Americans of all political affiliations increasingly recognize that the big government policies advanced by this Administration and Democrats in Congress are damaging the economy and weakening our country," said IWV CEO Heather R. Higgins. "Rep. Turner will join the ranks of those committed to ending government's assault on private business, repealing ObamaCare, and cutting the wasteful spending that is burying our country in debt. He'll represent New York well, and we're pleased to have been able to play a part in his victory."
Turner’s campaign message was that he wanted to go to Washington to get rid of Obamacare, reduce the size of the federal government by one-third, return fiscal sanity to Washington and act as a true friend of Israel’s. What is also significant is that a number of important Democrats clearly showed their displeasure with Obama by urging voters to vote for Turner, a conservative Republican. Also, Weprin, handpicked by the Democrat machine, supported building a mosque near Ground Zero, which did not endear him to either Jewish or Catholic voters. Turner opposed construction of the mosque. In short, Obama may not be able to count on the Jewish vote in his re-election campaign. But what about the Muslim vote? Is there such a thing as a Muslim vote? Nevertheless, Muslims may approve of what Obama is saying about Israel, but they may not like what he has done to the economy.
Columnist John Fund, who was at Turner headquarters after the stunning, unprecedented victory, was quoted on Newsmax: “I tell you, I never saw more rabbis than I saw tonight. There were rabbis everywhere at the Turner headquarters…. I’d also have to say that the social issue of gay marriage played a role, because this happened only a couple of months after the New York State Legislature passed gay marriage,” he said. “The Orthodox Jewish community and the Catholic community in this district were involved. The National Organization for Marriage spent $75,000. It’s not something you may read about in other papers, but I think gay marriage was an issue here.”
A columnist in the Jerusalem Post wrote: “The lesson is clear: It will take much more from Washington, and many more heartfelt expressions of gratitude from Netanyahu to Obama, to convince a significant part of the American Jewish community that former New York mayor Ed Koch was wrong when, while campaigning for Turner in New York's 9th district, said Obama ‘is willing to toss it [Israel] under the bus.’"
But what we are really witnessing, in effect, is the rise of a new invisible political party, the ABO, the Anyone But Obama Party. Thus, any decent conservative Republican candidate should have no trouble winning the White House in 2012. Which is why the debates among the Republican candidates are so important. The nation is being exposed to conservative political ideas that have not been heard in years. Repeated references to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and conservative principles of government are having an impact on the minds of the American people. Each debate is an educational seminar on government, a course in economics 101, a spirited discussion on how best to govern a free people. And therefore, the more debates the better.
All of this indicates that our dumbed-down population, mesmerized for decades by our liberal mass media, is not only beginning to wake up, but also smarten up. The combative debates over Social Security, healthcare, illegal immigration, government debt, taxes, entitlements, are providing the kind of education most Americans did not get in their progressive public schools. They are finding out how much they weren’t taught by their teachers in their twelve years of schooling.
For example, they are beginning to understand that there is a difference between socialism and capitalism, that the constant drumbeat for raising taxes on the “rich” is a form of class warfare, and that Barack Hussein Obama is not sold on American exceptionalism. In fact, he doesn’t think we are any more exceptional than Egypt, or Norway, or Brazil. Obama may talk about the American dream, but we suspect that he really doesn’t believe in it.
Also, Republicans are beginning to recognize that there is a big difference between so-called moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans. In fact, they really represent two different ideologies with the same name. The debates are helping Tea Party conservatives see the difference and vote accordingly.
To add a little frosting to the cake, it also appears that a Republican, Mark Amodei, easily won a crucial Congressional race in northern Nevada against Democrat Kate Marshall by a margin of 56 to 39 percent of the vote. Amodei, a former state GOP chairman and state senator will become the representative for most of Nevada. He said in his victory speech, “I’m looking forward to going back and getting to work right away, and getting that message delivered and turning the tide.”
The victory for Amodei would have even been greater had not two other candidates entered the race. Tim Fasano, a retired aerospace contractor and business owner, ran on the Independent American Party ticket, and Helm Lehmann, laid off from Microsoft Licensing, ran as an independent. The two of them got 6 percent of the vote.
It is obvious that human intelligence will be playing a much greater role in conservatives’ political choices in the future. The debates are making that plain. And who can quarrel with that?
