[lbo-talk] so . . .

[c b]

To be clear, I'm not talking about this one rally alone but the whole
phenomenon it's a part of - this remobilization of the right. I don't
think this sort of thing necessarily has much effect on the number of
seats won or lost in Congress. But it does have an effect on what type
of people occupy those seats and what types of things they do. The
Republicans were predestined to win a lot of seats, given the Dem
incumbent in the WH and the state of the economy. But it was not
predestined that the Republicans would continue to be so (and become
even more) right-wing. In the 1966 elections there was a similar
bounce-back in the direction of the GOP after the LBJ landslide and
the riots - but that election was noteworthy for producing a lot of
prominent moderate Republicans who later ended up seriously
undermining support for the war. Recall that after Nov. 2008 there was
a lot of talk about how the Republicans needed to move to the center -
even from some conservative pundits. The opposite has happened, and
the Tea Party, Glen Beck's 9/12 freakshow, the health-care town hall
spectacles - they had a lot to do with it.

SA

^^^^^
CB: It might be an exception to the general trend, but in the Michigan
governor's race primary, the most centrist (talking) Republican ( out
of five in the race) won.  The Democrat who won is featuring
"Mainstreet over Wallstreet" in his campaign rhetoric; he chose a
Black women who is an urban mayor as his Lt. Governor candidate.

http://www.votevirg.com/