Having recently returned from the Middle East, your Editor has had a chance to digest what happened and why.
Nationally, the GOP wave was reduced to a trickle. Why? It says here you can't just run against, you need to run for. This year's version of the Brilliant Contract for America of 1994 was a dud. The GOP senate candidates endorsed by Trump were mediocre at best. The GOP did not handle the abortion issue smartly, either running and hiding, or failing, to explain the Democrats' radical position. Note this election occurred under Biden's watch, with inflation at radically high levels, a border that is wide open, and out of control crime. Don't forget Trump's teasing of a run for President in 2024 which didn't help with independents.
Statewide in Texas, it was a good day for Republicans; plus two in the state house, and a pickup of two congressional seats. The high hopes for the Hispanic GOP candidates in the valley for three victories resulted in only one win, Monica De La Cruz. This is an area to work on in the future.
Then we get to the big one, Harris County. To the key candidates, Alex Mealer, Jack Cagle and Jack Morman, close, but no cigar. They all ran hard and had high profile campaigns. The issues of runaway crime, corruption and spending served to align with the votes yet all three lost, or did they?
There is an ongoing investigation by the Texas Rangers and the Democrat-led Harris County District Attorney's Office (Kim Ogg) are investigating scores of potential ballot fraud including more votes counted than actually voted; supply issues that prevented voting in Republican areas and illegal slow count of votes; a failure in the ballot by mail program, losing County Judge by 12,000, Cagle's race by 1,400 and Morman's race by 2,800.
With the most active judicial campaign well-funded countywide and the issues, the GOP still lost most races.
The big winner is Rodney Ellis, a brilliant political chess player who simply made every right move from re-districting to finessing issues.
The biggest loser is Lina Hidalgo, who after achieving a close victory gave an ugly victory speech with zero graciousness. Talk about a sore winner. She challenged her opponents and it appears they will pick up the gauntlet. Her future is cloudy at best.
Next issues are the challenges ahead for Harris County and its all Democratic government, and is there a Republican future countywide for Republicans?
Dems Promote Election Denier
An interesting article from our friend Gary Bauer at ouramericanvalues.org:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she will not seek a leadership role in the Democrat caucus next year. It is widely assumed that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York will succeed Pelosi as the next House Democrat Leader.
Well, here's something you probably don't know about Mr. Jeffries: He's a major election denier.
In 2018, he tweeted: "The more we learn about [the] 2016 election the more ILLEGITIMATE it becomes. America deserves to know whether we have a FAKE President in the Oval Office #RussianInterference."
So, he not only denied the legitimacy of the 2016 election, he also promoted the whole Russia collusion hoax.
Talk about undermining democracy. This is what the entire left-wing media and political establishment did to Donald Trump throughout his entire presidency!
And never once were they called "election deniers." Never once were they shamed by the media or the GOP establishment as "threats to democracy."
But there's more.
In 2020, Mr Jeffries declared, "History will never accept you [Trump] as a legitimate president." Not one article in the "mainstream media" is calling out Mr. Jeffries for his history of being an election denier.
But there's more.
Jeffries thinks the Supreme Court is illegitimate, too. In 2018, he tweeted that "one or two Supreme Court seats" were stolen. So Trump's Supreme Court appointments are illegitimate and any decisions they make are illegitimate and should not be followed.
This is why conservatives must never allow the left to dictate the narrative. Leftists are election deniers! Somehow we allowed the left to browbeat us into silence when it comes to questioning corrupted elections, while they promote their loudest election deniers!
The double standard is disgusting.
Michael Ramirez' Cartoon Of The Fortnight
Republican Party Needs A Facelift By Changing The Status Quo Leadership By Brian Ettinger, Contributing Editor
The results of the recent election demonstrates the Republican Party's demise as a national party and needs to change by recruiting more moderate and better candidates, not ones hand picked by Former President Trump or Senator McConnell. Trump needs to rerun as he announced and present his agenda through the Republican primary process as well as other credible candidates. That way there will be a sharp contrast between these candidates to express their agenda. Trump did a great service by bringing in a more diverse class of individuals and his policies worked but he was so abrasive and cannot attract the moderate Republicans and Independents that are needed to win national and statewide elections. The recent election results showed the poor selection of candidates for the Senate and Governor races but they did better with House Candidates. The Democrats deserve credit by weighing in on this process helping the more extreme Republican candidates win primary races. The U.S. Supreme Court gave the Democrats a major issue to run on, "Abortion", as the court did not need to make a decision until after the Midterm elections. Without this issue the Democrats would be forced to run on its record in office. Now, Trump can do the grand party a benefit instead of hurting and dividing it. Announce on Tuesday November 15, 2022 for President and force the Democrats to go forward with the Biden/Harris Ticket. Then, Trump presents his agenda in the Republican Primaries with another candidate, younger and more moderate.
Run on a policy of less government, interference with individual rights including privacy rights, so need to hold the tech companies liable and do away with their liability protections, less regulations on manufacturing and energy sectors including limiting the authority of EPA , lower taxes, encourage energy independence by allowing more drilling, fracking, natural gas, pipeline construction, LNG permitting of facilities, build nuclear power plants, clean coal plants and of course wind and solar. The issue with wind power is it takes up so much land mass to be effective. Needs to be near the coastal line with the ocean winds where it needs to be limited. Also, the U.S. needs a total reversion of its transmission system including the power grid. It is a national security issue so the power grids need to be protected from cyber and physical threats. The Republican Party needs to take a stand for a secure border, a revised immigration system with a national identification card as we need to know who is in our country. It should also be required to vote as this is the only way to secure our elections. Early voting or voting on election day which should be a national holiday.
The Republican party needs to get involved and have offices in all the colleges and universities and sponsored programs that are of interest to our younger generation. Even if their views are different from the current party position, they need to have a discussion and see where both sides can look at a compromise position. Lastly, the Republican Party needs new leadership now. Replacing the National Party Chairman and the Speaker of the House to be elected needs to be strong and not weak. Majority and Minority Leaders in the Senate all need to go immediately and retire former President Trump to the golf course. Unless changes are made it will be done as a national party. The Republican Party needs to be the party that pushes for term limits for all elected officials and judges (4 terms in the House, 2 terms in the Senate and 10 years for all federal judges and 15 for the Supreme Court). Without term limits and limits on the money from special interest and PAC's will lead to corruption and a process of abuse of power. This also includes the tech and media companies as they need to be neutral to both party candidates or face fines and litigation. Unless the Republican Party takes these drastic measures then they will continue to lose national elections.
Brian Ettinger is a practicing attorney and contributing editor to TCR. He is a strong conservative who is concerned about America's future.
Tune In To What's Your Point? On Fox 26 Sunday, December 4th at 7:00 AM
TCR Editor Gary Polland returns to Fox 26 Houston this Sunday, December 4th, on What's Your Point? hosted by Greg Groogan. The show will be a wide ranging discussion of current political issues. As always, Gary will bring a reasoned conservative viewpoint to the show. Just tune in at 7:00 am live, YouTube it, set your DVR or go to: https://www.fox26houston.com/.
TCR on the Air
Gary Polland is now a regular on "What's Your Point?" hosted by Greg Groogan on Fox 26 Houston, appearing every other week. Tune in or set your recorder for 7:00 am Sundays.
About Your Editor
Gary Polland is a long-time conservative and Republican spokesman, fund-raiser, and leader who completed three terms as the Harris County Republican Chairman. During his three terms, Gary was described as the most successful county Chairman in America by Human Events - The National Conservative Weekly. He is in his twenty-sixth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last twenty-one years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 18 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections and city elections, all with the purpose of assisting conservative candidates. Gary also for 20 years cohosted Red, White and Blue on Houston Public Media TV 8 PBS Houston, longest running political talk show in Texas history. Gary serves on the Board of Directors of American Values, a national pro-family, pro-faith, conservative organization supporting the unity of the American people around the vision of our founding fathers and dedicated to reminding the public of the conservative principles fundamental to the survival of our nation. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.
|