Comment Rescue: Delaware Exceptionalism
I don’t buy this Kavips comment. I think that there is something here, but I also think that Delaware’s exceptionalism can be better explained by a less Rube-Goldbergian sequence of events. A remnant of Eisenhower Republicans remain here in Delaware and they still regard themselves as human beings first and conservatives second. That’s the simple explanation. We are not the Swiss. We are not a blogging Athens, to the rest of the county’s Fox News Sparta.
There were a few embers of the old style Republicans still alive, but this April they will get pissed on and go out with a puff of acrid steam. That’s all. Nothing to see here folks. The new Republican Party is in place to take up their arms for the Plutocracy under the impression that they are really at war with sinful modernity. The Fox News revolution was simply delayed by a few years in Delaware, not defeated.
Well, I don’t know. Despite all the quibbling back and forth, there seems to be a bigger issue here, of major historical significance..
First of all, visit the site and look at his profile picture… He’s up against a wall… That’s the first clue…
Secondly… if you used to be a Republican, and that party got dissolved, and you didn’t consider yourself a Democrat, how would you list yourself? Remember, you’re seeking votes.. as an “EX” Republican?
Thirdly, this is a sign that Copeland and Ross ran the Republican party into the ground so hard, it is buried six feet under….
Fourthly, as a historian interested enough in how a party dies, so I could for similar symptoms with the death of the Republican party, I’ve actually looked back to see how former Federalists and former Whigs classified themselves when their parties were sputtering… For the most part, they ran as non affiliates…
I think we can bury the Republican party in Delaware. Yes, nationally they have a House… and made gains in the Senate… But… in Delaware, they don’t amount to much… So, …
The next great question to ponder is: Why did Delaware buck the national trend? What are they doing differently?
I think the answer stares back at us every time we visit one of these sites… Here, we live off… ideas… Our state is so small, we have no television, we are all unified at vilifying Ron Williams who has come to personify ( probably not fairly) the News Journal, so we look to blogs for guidance. And no one blog is really better than another… This one has a plethora of good writers, so the chances of seeing something exciting, are higher here than elsewhere… And we hear the arguments from both sides….
And here is what I think is important: when you hear republican ideas stacked up against logic, they fall flat. When you hear republican ideas stacked up against those of democrats, unless you are in the top 1% income bracket, they seem self serving just to that 1%, and hurtful to us….
So I think, the challenge is for Democrats to figure out how to get their ideas into American Red Zones. If they can do as we did here in Delaware, create a forum free of corporate influence, where both sides can banter back and forth, those ideas that are Democratic and solid, can move forward to make our nation better. And the opposite is true as well: those ideas that are Republican and solid, can also move forward to do the same… But for both of those to happen, you have to have communication.. And where over 80% of our state officials read these blogs, and the other 20% have to listen to that 80% the next morning… we have that here….
I know it’s a lot to pull out of a former candidate running as a non affiliate….
But then again…. re-heating my coffee by pushing a button and waiting for the timer to go off, only came about because one man wondered what it would look like if someone fell off a cliff and threw a ball up in the air as they were falling……
I know it is unpopular to give Ron Williams any credit around here, but his column today about TV in northern Delaware may have some tie-in to Delaware’s exceptionalism. He points out that there is no local TV in northern Delaware. Is there a direct correlation between no local TV and Democratic strong-hold? Downstate, where the tea-baggers rule, they have local TV. If northern Delawareans have to exert some effort to get their news and can self-select reality instead of the propaganda of corporate-owned TV perhaps they are actually better off???
Respectfully, I disagree. My own experience tells me that most Delawareans simply don’t pay any attention to the local news, particularly the political sort. To suggest that a local TV station would leave news viewers better informed is laughable on its face, even if the broadcaster could find enough revenue to support Delaware Action News (what a very short newscast that would be).
The notion that Williams floats actually seems to boil down to serving local advertisers (I’m sure the publisher loves him for that). Dig further and you find that native Delawarean inferiority complex glowing hot and bright, no surprise when you consider Williams is a downstater, where the inferiority complex glows hottest and brightest.
Reading Williams, I have to respectfully agree with Geezer. Political campaigns will pay less ? How does that follow?
We have a political party (The Republican Party) that is 100% dedicated to driving up the opponents negatives. The play book has been paired down to one page, and on that page there are two sentences: “Don’t try to get people to vote for you. Get them to vote against your opponent.”
That is literally all they have. I don’t see how a NCC based TV station would help our political discourse.
Geezer,
I think I stated my theory badly. I don’t agree with Williams that we need local TV in northern Delaware. In fact, it could be that the voters of northern Delaware make better choices because they don’t have a local station providing inexpensive advertising to the wing-nuts. We do better by blogging and listening to WDEL in the morning than the down-staters do being indoctrinated by propaganda TV out of Salisbury. I dunno but I like the theory.
You are probably right, nobody is really paying any attention, but the passive receiving of the wing-nut message on local TV can’t be helping people recognize reality when they see it. And it may just be tilting the playing field toward the self-destructive votes so many cast.
One thing you and I agree upon. It is class warfare.
Jason,
Agree.
And where over 80% of our state officials read these blogs, and the other 20% have to listen to that 80% the next morning
Modesty aside, this is undeniable.
Another reason Delaware Democrats are ascendant is because we are pro-corporate Dixiecrats. After the Castle-Carper swap, we got stuck on Democrat, but it just as easily could have gone the other way. And now, why should Republicans expend resources to beat us when we already give them whatever they want? Delaware Democrats are supported by a shadow contingent of Republican business people and poiticians with long-standing profitable deals they want to keep in place.
“And where over 80% of our state officials read these blogs, and the other 20% have to listen to that 80% the next morning.”
If that is true, why no revenue side solutions to budget problems? Because, Delaware Democrats pro-corporate DLC-o-crats. Fixed!
There. This is all settled. Time to go back into retirement.
Liberalgeek, if you please….
Also, Delaware union members and working people might just be a little smarter than their Wisconsin counterparts. The Delaware GOP agenda has breaking unions as its first priority, and we know it. All the GOP plans to “cut spending” do so by attacking union jobs and organization.
If that is true, why no revenue side solutions to budget problems?
As I recall, the main current of thought on this blog was to let Obama slide on the revenue-side solutions, and attack Democrats who persisted in thinking otherwise. If any DL bloggers disagreed, they held their fire. DLC-crat behavior if I ever saw it.
So why should our friends in the Delaware administration take DL bloggers seriously now when you propose revenue side solutions for Delaware?
You can’t get enough of kicking the least powerful actors in the chain of malfeasance. Wait… one group of actors is even less powerful than bloggers. Blog commenters… you fucking blog commenting douche bags… It is YOUR FAULT!!!
Well, you did ask.
Yes. And I’m glad I did because it exposed the real culprits. Blog commenting douche bags like yourself.
Moe slaps Larry, Larry slaps Curly, and Curly turns around and finds nobody to slap.
Even if the blog itself is a bit player, it holds lessons.
The DLer’s who stayed out of the intra-party comment battles over Obama’s tax deal, did so (I assume) because they wanted to preserve relationships with their friends, and not disagree over matters that had little impact on them personally.
Isn’t this exactly what is happening in government for real?
I have to go with Obama2008. The differences between Democratic policy and Republican policy around here are all based on social issues. Democrats, like other politicians, never bite the hand that feeds them, and were cheap to buy. Developers? Corporations? Sure. put the money in the cup.
After that was settled, everyone agreed to scupper half of any legislation designed to protect women and children, and then they could all go out for a beer.
No shit Sherlock. I part ways with you douche bags when you want to cross the line and say that the people with the least power have the most culpability.
If you think bloggers have not been doing thoer job, start an fucking blog for Christ sake and be a hero.
Okay, Jason. I never said nor implied that. And, being the type of female type person that sees the epithet ‘douchebag’ as jealousy expressed by men that anything ELSE goes in a girl’s ‘vajayjay’ I’ll let that pass.
I was writing my reply when the comments stood at 915, but, hey.
So my gripe is with Obama2008. Start an fucking blog O2008, and be a hero. Nobody is making you comment here.
The point is that maybe running a government is a lot like running a blog. There are some issues you don’t want to touch, friends you don’t want to cross, and you don’t want to upset the balance that took a long time to achieve.
Rocking the boat is hard to do, even when necessary. All sorts of rationalizations will be invented to avoid change. The Governor’s account of wealthy individuals changing residence smells to me like one of those rationalizations. These are people he knows and he does not want to upset his relationships with them.
But I haven’t seen the numbers on the downside. If taxes are raised slightly on the rich I would still expect a net revenue gain.
OK, I can take a break. No need to stay where I am not wanted.
Stupid point.
Good.
Hmmm.. Just got here. Am I supposed to fire someone or something?
As for why some people let the tax cuts be renewed (do we really have to keep coming back to this???) I suspect that the Republicans and the exiting blue dogs painted the Dems into a corner. Much was accomplished in the lame-duck session, but that wasn’t one of them.
I’m moving on.
Bloggers not getting shit done. Too much sucking up to the man… You know. That old story.
Markell and Carper have co-opted all the good Republican policy positions: no sales tax, a near flat income tax rate(highest income tax bracket starts at 60,000 I think), etc.
So with those issues off the table, all that’s left are the social issues and the pro-life side/anti-gay marriage side is clearly outgunned by the pro-choice/pro-gay marriage side in Delaware.
Don’t forget the fact that Delaware used to be THE bellweather state. But after Carper was done governor, the division between Republicans and Democrats was purely on social issues.
Oh and I guess I should apologize for my violent rhetoric in this comment through the use of the word, “outgunned.”
Apology accepted.