Isn’t it great to see Republicans push back against Democrat talking points? Aren’t you uplifted when a conservative speaks defiantly to debate moderators to get his or her point across to voters? This is what Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush failed to do; thereby failing to convince the silent majority they had the right stuff to take on Democrats, Big Media, woke corporations, and the administrative state. Republicans that have “it” are now soaring in the polls.
Nancy Pelosi can “dismiss that” GOP momentum all day, but Real Clear Politics’ polling averages beg to differ; Republicans are now expected to pick up 3 senate seats and 3 governorships. Plus, they’ve not only regained the lead on the House generic ballot – it’s their largest of the year. As it is always with an electorate, it’s not just one thing, and Democrats chose the wrong three election issues.
Running against Trump is absurd, because he’s not on the ballot. Obsessing about January 6 has alienated voters who had nothing to do with the riots and everything to lose with a Biden economy. Relying on the Dobbs decision to boost turn-out is bad math, when the crime-victim rate is 16 per 100 US families and the abortion rate is 1.1 per 100 US women.
Actually, Trump is kinda-sorta on the ballot, because he taught conservatives how to push back with furor against liberal mischaracterizations. For years, conservatives have screamed at Republicans on TV to fight back on CNN and CBS. Trump brought that pro-Democrat bias to an ugly crescendo. It reared its partisan head hours after his inauguration.
A Time Magazine reporter posted from the White House that President Trump had “removed MLK’s bust from the Oval Office,” when it had just been put on another mantle in the room. Rather than asking a question, Zeke Miller rushed to confirm his bias. Within hours, he’d been forced to retract and apologize. Six years later, Miller received the 2022 White House Correspondents’ Association award for “Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure” (you can’t make this stuff up).
At some point between the 2016 presidential election and the 2022 GOP primaries, a new Republican was born – who didn’t care to be liked by MSNBC’s Joy Reid or think Nancy Pelosi served a majority of Americans. These Republicans not only talk about the double standard, they bludgeon Democrats and their media cronies with it.
Take Herschel Walker (GA) in his debate. After the press piled onto allegations he’d paid for a long-ago abortion, he was brief: “That’s not true.” Then, he held a press conference in front of Raphael Warnock’s (D-GA) trashy tenement in Georgia: “We want you to go in – that’s the reason you are here – and see the people behind us.” Voila! Evictions of poor tenants by Warner’s church saw the light of day. Now his favorability with Georgia voters is underwater by 8 points (source: Washington Free Beacon).
Or Marco Rubio (FL) in his debate. After tiring of Val Demings’ (D) libertarian spin (senators have no business in the “decisions made between the woman, her family, her doctor and her faith”), he said they sure do when “you want the government to pay for them!”
Or Tiffany Smiley (WA), who received a cease-and-desist letter from the Seattle Seahawks – requested by rival Murray’s (D) campaign – because her husband wore a Seahawks jersey in Smiley’s “Game Day” ad. She fought back with lawyers against the “frivolous” lawsuit and hit back. A press release confirmed husband Scott had been honored as a combat-blinded veteran in 2014 by the Seahawks and awarded the jersey he wore in the ad. Bam!
Or J.D. Vance (OH) in his debate, after being accused by Tim Ryan (D) of peddling racism: “Here’s what happens when media and Tim Ryan accuse me of engaging in the great replacement theory, my own biracial children get attacked by scumbags online and in person. You’re so desperate for political power that you’ll accuse the father of three beautiful biracial babies, of engaging in racism. We are sick of it. You can believe in the border without being a racist.”
Or Kari Lake (AZ), whose Democrat gubernatorial rival calls her an “election denier” and won’t appear on a debate stage because “we will not engage in a circus that insults and embarrasses Arizonans” (note the royal “we”). Get to know Lake, because she’s as smooth as Reagan and feisty as Thatcher. All she did was take that “election denier” BS and shove it back in the media’s face.
First, she did her homework, produced hand-outs with examples of Democrat election denying, and shamed the media for their double standard: “Let’s talk about election deniers. Here’s 150 examples of Democrats denying election results.” She then threw a few haymakers at the shock-faced press:
“Look at this from Joe Biden’s press secretary – ‘reminder, Brian Kemp stole the gubernatorial election from Georgians and Stacey Abrams,’ a Democrat saying that, an election denier! Oh, Stacey Abrams is still claiming she never lost. Hillary Clinton (holding a copy of the Washington Post’s article), ‘Trump is an illegitimate President.'” Lake closed by thanking her 20-year-old research assistant: “You did better research than half these people.”
Actually, she closed by explaining election skepticism to CNN’s Dana Bash. Lake: “We have the right. It’s protected with our First Amendment, to question our government and to question elections.” Bash: “No question about that.” Lake: “We still have the 1st amendment?” Bash: “Yes.” Lake: “We still have the 1st amendment, and when you start seeing the media cancel people for questioning their government, that’s when we have a problem.”
Republicans should have twofold appreciation for these conservatives, whom Democrats deemed “vulnerable” or “no threat” just months ago. One, they fight better than Mitt Romney. Two, they don’t bully like Donald Trump. The leader of the pack is Florida’s governor, who now leads both Biden and Trump in recent polls (source: Florida Politics). You want the right stuff? He’s in Tallahassee (ask for Ron).
