Who Cares About Rush Limbaugh

One of our local leftist loons, quoted here by Robert, does his part to spread the Party's talking points o' the month (while accusing everyone else of partisanship):

So when Republicans get in line behind a drug addict like Limbaugh and state that they want Obama to fail, what they are saying, folks, in effect, is that they want Obama's measures to rescue America to fail.

No. They are saying that they want Obama's plans to fail because Obama's plans are destructive for America.

That is the issue. That is why the stock market has been going down since it became likely that Obama would be elected, and why the market has continued to decline since Obama's inauguration. Obama/Pelosi's spending, taxing and regulating schemes destroy wealth and opportunity.

Rush Limbaugh is irrelevant, a phony issue cooked up by the permanent campaign to distract attention from the obvious fact that the Great One is wrecking our economy. What kind of President focuses his scarce time and political capital on conducting carefully planned and focus-grouped demagogic attack campaigns against media critics during an economic meltdown? How does that help the country? Obama is demonstrating ideologically driven incompetence on a colossal scale, not to mention a shocking level of personal arrogance and narcissism. That's the issue, he's the issue, not Rush Limbaugh. It's as if Nixon were still in office or we were living in some kind of marginal third-world country where the government was always conducting propaganda campaigns against enemy conspiracies.

And who cares about Carville. Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer as recently as 2006 were telling the media (and our enemies) with obvious glee that we were losing in Iraq. So was Obama. They were saying it for the purest, most cynical partisan motives. But that's all forgotten now that W's won that war. On to today's talking points...

Generational Shift Among Cuban-Americans? (UPDATED)

(Just realized the first sentence of the post makes absolutely no sense. That's what happens when you throw a post up in a hurry).

At least that doesn't appear to be the case after the results of the three Miami-Dade congressional races involving Republican incumbents. Each of the three Cuban-American Republicans won: two by big margins and the other by a closer margin but still decisive.

Add this to the fact that strongly Cuban-American Miami-Dade areas remain red (or green), and there's little evidence of a significant shift. Further analysis of demographic/ethnic votes are sure to follow, and we'll have a better picture of the Cuban-American vote at that time. Until then, all media outlets such as the Miami Herald who have been hammering the "generational shift" theme can do is to try to put a spin or nuance to it:

In a nod to the new political climate, Miami-Dade's three congressional Republican incumbents -- all Cuban Americans -- kept their seats by emphasizing the economy more than Castro.

Obama won Miami-Dade by about 133,000 -- triple Democrat John Kerry's margin in 2004. Part of the reason: Most Cuban precincts didn't support McCain as strongly as precincts with the highest black populations backed Obama. Obama's biggest vote margin was in Broward: 241,000.

That Cuban-Americans didn't support McCain as strongly as blacks supported Obama is the understatement of the year. I would add: NEVER has Cuban-American support for a Republican been as strong as blacks' support for Obama.

More nuance from the Herald:

Once a reliable Republican voting bloc, Hispanics have shifted more toward Democrats in recent years as South and Central Americans started swelling the voter rolls and curbing the influence of Miami-Dade's Cuban Americans, who comprise about 70 percent of the county's Republican voters.

Give the Herald credit. They're correct in acknowledging that the real significant shift has occurred among non-Cuban Hispanics.

The Obama team comes up with this in the first linked Herald article:

''The politics driven by the embargo and Fidel Castro are becoming long gone,'' said Obama's Florida campaign manager, Steve Schale, who noted that younger Cuban Americans seemed to be shifting toward the Democrats as well.

"Seemed" is correct. We'll see how the breakdowns look.

Election Day

I arrived at suburban southwestern Miami Precinct 769 in Portable H just after 630 AM with about 35 to 40 people in front of me. Folks were mostly quiet with general conversation floating around in the misty and pleasantly cool morning air. No loud or boisterous political talk, just a few women wearing McCain/Palin paraphenelia, and a woman clutching her rosary as she waited in line. A reporter from local NPR affilliate WLRN was there as well, apparently because my precinct happens to be split 50/50 between Republicans and Democrats. A battleground precinct in a battleground state: who would have thought I lived in a micro-battleground! Anyway, at around 650 AM, I heard the reporter ask: "Are there any Obama supporters here?". After a few seconds of total silence, a gentleman about 6-7 people behind me started to blurt out all sorts of stuff about the war and oil going to China, etc. etc., blah blah blah. An angry liberal. WLRN surely got some good sound bytes, but most of the people in line just murmured in a combination of amusement and disgust. The guy later commented that he wanted to move to "a liberal place like Virginia". I couldn't help but chuckle.

"So many people voting on pure emotion instead of logic and reason", I remarked to a middle-aged gentleman right behind me. He agreed.

For me, Election Day is and has always been a sacred day. No early voting, if I can at all help it. Precinct workers are always a little surprised to find me smiling and offering a hearty "Good Morning" at the crack of dawn when I walk into the portable to register. I can't help it. Election Day is a wonderful day simply because I get to do what so many Americans take for granted: choose our leaders. My parents, grandparents and other relatives lost that ability when Cuba was gripped by dictators in the prime of their lives. Because of my family's history, I will NEVER EVER take this day for granted, and neither should you.

Finally, I did something that I have never done on Election Day. I drove a few mintues down the road to my church, went inside, sat down in a middle pew for a few minutes, reflected on the important choice which faces us today, and prayed. I didn't pray for a candidate (although God surely knows who I want to win), but I did pray for America to trust God's will, as tough as that is sometimes. I also prayed for us to elect those who respect life, and finally for all of us to wake up on Wednesday morning with a commitment to stand together and do our best for this great country of ours, regardless of the outcome.

(Cross-posted at Babalu)

Where's the Money?

The Miami Herald has a feature spread today on Florida Presidential campaign fundraising. Based on Herald stats, three-quarters of leading Democratic donors in 2004 have pledged their hard-earned money to a Democratic candidate. Republicans are much less enthusiastic, with only a third of 2004 donors contributing this go-around.

As the article indicates, the reasons for this are fairly obvious. You have BDS and the Democrats' zeal to take over the White House. You also have the muddy field of Republican candidates, none of which inspire much confidence among die-hard Reps.

I think the primary reason was only mentioned in passing by the article.

It's called "Waiting For Fred".