New York Times Up Bush Down?

(Getting It Wrong Again)

R.A. Hawkins

It was interesting to see the crude oil prices spike again recently. It reminded me of the way in which lemmings run off of cliffs in a rapture that only they could ever understand. Somebody said they thought the prices could reach 0 per barrel and everybody that could jump on that did. I really have to wonder why that is. One would think that after the good ole dotcom con that people would be a little more cautious about such advice. Apparently not. The per barrel price began to drop within a week. That was but a sideshow to Liberal American Politics, which tend to be driven by money and self interest. The part I enjoyed was reading the delight of the New York Times, as they seemed to be viewing this as the death knell to Bush's political future.

In the New York Times article of April 8th ‘U.S. Report Sees Gasoline Prices Moving Higher Still’, written by Richard W. Stevenson and Matthew L. Wald, there were some interesting quotes. “When gas prices go up to the level they’re at now, they are in some ways the economic equivalent of the color-coded terrorism alerts. They work their way through into public opinion very quickly in terms of affecting people’s opinions about the direction of the nation and raising the stakes on pocketbook issues generally.” That was Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster. They also quoted another Democratic pollster by the name of Mark Mellman. “This is not just an economic problem. It is also, in the public judgment, a national security problem. There is a widespread belief in the country that the problem could be solved or a real dent made in it, but that this administration, because it is tied to big oil, is unwilling to take the steps necessary to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”

Intermixed in all of this was a comment that only slightly amused me. This wasn’t a quote from someone else. It was from one of these two writers. “The administration has shown no sign of rethinking its opposition to releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves as a means of trying to force prices down.” Never mind the fact that the black gold in there is foreign and if it were released would have to be replaced with more foreign oil.

I have a response for them regarding that. That oil is there for a national emergency. I realize that it is difficult for some to understand the difference between needs and wants. Yes this will have an affect on the economy. Deal with it. Sell your gas-guzzler. Vacation closer to home. In short grow up. Just because Bill Clinton released thirty million barrels of oil to knock prices down for Gore when he was running for election doesn’t mean it’s a smart idea. All Gore had to say was “I will not go along with the apologists for big oil and support an agenda that is of big oil, for big oil and by big oil," Let us not forget the number of millionaire donors who earned their bucks in oil and donated to Kerry. One of my favs, Oscar Wyatt, is sort of caught up in that little food for oil scandal at the United Nations.

The Democrats are showing the usual power at all costs methods. They are a risky scheme. They should be put into a lock box so that we will be safe from their attempts to drain the Strategic Petroleum Reserves so that they can have a happier time and, as usual, weaken the nation. I guess that the Republicans passing a tax law that cuts the tax deduction by seventy-five percent for business owned SUV’s isn’t even a start in their minds. The Democrats are as usual blocking the attempts to deal with the need for domestic oil (read not foreign) and the new conservation technology that Bush is proposing. They still refuse to allow drilling in Alaska. But that isn’t too surprising really. Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton and a few others never did believe in drilling at home anyway.

This is yet another example of why they lost so big and have continued to lose so big. They just don’t get it. They don’t want to. They are blaming the religious right for their loss at the polls. They haven’t realized that they are the reason they lost. But anyone who ever tried to raise kids knows exactly what that really is.

When it’s one of your own kids, it’s pretty embarrassing and annoying. When it is a political adversary, it’s pretty darn funny. Keep it up, you yayhoos.



Bubba drains the reserves for his buddy Gore

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/09/25/campaign.gore.oil.reut/

Republicans reduce the tax deduction for SUV’s http://www.cata.info/information/bulletins/20041025.htm



R.A. Hawkins is the author of "Through Eyes of Shiva", available through http://www.amazon.com/. Visit http://www.entropical-paradise.com/ -- Entropical Paradise - The Home Of R.A. Hawkins for more commentaries and editorials by R.A. Hawkins.

Comments are always welcome. Please send them to ra_hawkins@earthlink.net.

© 2005 R.A. Hawkins

Good article - thanks for posting. I especially agree with the comment re the Democrats that "They just don’t get it. They don’t want to. They are blaming the religious right for their loss at the polls. They haven’t realized that they are the reason they lost."

And here is another article from the Houston Chronicle that shows what's happening in one of the Red States. It's just part of a national trend.

Officials climb on GOP 'wave'

Four longtime officeholders in Chambers County bolt Democrats, join regional trend

By CINDY HORSWELL, Houston Chronicle

ANAHUAC - Chambers County has joined other fast-growing suburban counties where Republicans are no longer swimming against the tide to win a county office.

In fact, Republican contenders for Chambers County offices, which officials said started as a small "wave" in the late '90s, turned into a tidal wave within the past month as four more longtime Democratic officeholders defected to the other side.

The four are among the county's more powerful elected officials: the county judge, district clerk, county attorney and county treasurer.

They are responding to an influx of conservative families from the Houston area to new subdivisions in the county, a trend that has also been experienced in Montgomery, Fort Bend and Waller counties.

A majority of those who migrate to the suburban counties for cheaper housing, safer neighborhoods and better schools tend to be predominantly white conservatives, said Richard Murray, director of the University of Houston's Center for Political Policy.

"These former rural counties are being suburbanized," he said.

Yet longtime Chambers County residents remember how elections were dominated by Democrats for decades long after this rice-farming county was formed in 1858. During those years, winners were usually decided in the Democratic primaries, often because no Republicans bothered to run.

Democratic control wanes

However, Democratic control began to ebb when Precinct 3 Commissioner W.E. "Buddy" Irby switched party affiliations in 1999. Irby, a former longstanding Democratic supporter, gave the GOP its first beachhead in Chambers County.

He was joined in the 2000 election by two more Democrats turned Republicans, Precinct 6 Constable Robert Barrow and Precinct 4 Commissioner Bill Wallace. A Republican candidate also beat the Democratic contender for sheriff that year.

The latest four to jump ship are: County Judge Jimmy Sylvia, who has held an elected office for 12 years; District Clerk Bobby Scherer, who has held his seat for 33 years; County Attorney Cheryl Lieck, who has been on the job for five years; and County Treasurer Carren Sparks, who has been in office since 1993.

In Fort Bend County, Democrats held every political office until U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land was elected to the Texas House in 1978.

Young conservative families then began moving into the county in droves, which led some officeholders to begin switching parties — until by 2001 all but three of the 32 elected offices were held by Republicans.

Not a single Democrat signed up to run for Montgomery County's local offices in 2004 — except the county's Democratic chairman, Raymond McNeel.

Abandoned party

The transformation in Waller County became apparent last year when two veteran Democrats abandoned their party. Sheriff Randy Smith, who has been in office 16 years, and Tax Assessor-Collector Ellen Shelburne, who has won four consecutive terms, were both re-elected as Republicans.

"It's happening everywhere across the state," said Sarah McLallen, the Texas Republican Party spokeswoman in Austin. "We're seen as the party of conservative values now."

From 1992 to 2004, she said, 197 Democrats holding county offices in Texas switched to the Republican Party.

"I'm severely disappointed," said Chambers County Democratic Chairman Guy Robert Jackson, mayor of the county seat, Anahuac. "But I still consider the defectors as friends."

At the same time, Jackson said if he finds a Democrat to run against them, he will support that candidate.

"Up until recently, we had all the countywide positions," he said.

But he acknowledges he can see a trend starting as more conservatives are moving from Houston into new subdivisions on the county's west side.

Murray, the political analyst, said the demographics eventually could shift the other direction in some of the suburban counties such as Fort Bend, where more minority families have recently relocated. "In the last presidential race, the Democratic vote had increased from 39 percent to 42 percent," he said.

Changing demographics

But in rural counties such as Chambers, politicians think they can no longer tread water and wait.

"The demographics are changing, and the Republicans are on the ascent now and Democrats on the decline. You can't ignore it if you want to stay in office," said Scherer, the district clerk, after switching parties.

All four officeholders paid a courtesy call to Jackson before changing parties.

"(Jackson) told me that he could call me a traitor and runaway and all that, but he didn't. He disagreed with our decision but knew we had to do what we had to do," Scherer said.

For years, the district clerk said friends had called him a "closet Republican" while he had insisted that he was a "conservative Democrat."

"But now, the term 'conservative' seems to be more at home in the Republican Party," he said, although he thinks neither party has all the answers.

Sylvia, the county judge, also points to the demographics.

"The west side of the county has grown like crazy, and it's a big Republican influx. Half the population now lives there. Our county carried President Bush by 75 percent."

He said he sees little difference between a Southern Democrat and a Republican.

"I am more aligned with the Republican philosophy of morals, values and conservatism," he said.



2002 election scare

Despite years of experience in office and no scandals, Sparks, the county treasurer, got a scare in the 2002 election when she came close to losing to a Republican newcomer, Sylvia said.



Sparks issued this statement about her switch: "My conservative nature is more in tune with the Republican Party. ... Without change we become stagnant and change has definitely come to Chambers County."



Lieck, the county attorney, said many new residents do not know the officeholders and cast their ballots only on whether there is an " 'R' or 'D' by their name."

"As a prosecutor, I cannot afford to be associated with liberals like Howard Dean (former presidential candidate recently named chairman of the Democratic National Committee). ... I don't like the way the Democrats are going nationally," she said. "I'm no dummy. I can see the wave."

cindy.horswell@chron.com

How many of Tom Delay's fundraisers have been indighted now?

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/11/10_403.html

ha ha ha ha ha.

All of you are roaches. Time for a Boric acid dusting.