Kentucky has 9,000 new Democratic voters, formerly Republicans who re-registered. That equals 9,000 Democratic voters who will not be allowed to vote in Kentucky's Democratic presidential primary. Rush Limbaugh's Operation Chaos, therefore, will not be a factor here, but on the other hand, Hillary is expected to win the state anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Pennsylvania is a different story. Some polls have her leading Obama by someting like 49 to 39 percent of respondents. On the other hand, popular Democratic Senator Bob Casey is now touring Pennsylvania by bus, campaigning with and for Obama. This could make a big difference. It could at least result in a closer margin of victory for Hillary.
Operation Chaos is alleged to be responsible for Hillary's win in Texas, and possibly increased her margin of victory in Ohio. My question is, why? I thought Limbaugh was dead set against John McCain. Is he assuming Hillary would be easier to beat, or harder to beat?
One thing is for certain. In this crazed election year, the two major political parties are engaged in a game of political Hearts-the lower score wins.
It's a long-term consequence. If McCane wins, he is going to face a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress. By the time the next two years are over with, the voters are probably going to be so frustrated and angry, they will for the most part vote Democratic, thereby giving Democrats an even larger majority in both houses of Congress.
If either Hillary or Obama wins, the reverse holds true. After two years of Democratic style monopoly of power under the Democratic White House and Democratic controlled Congress, the people will in 2010 vote overwhelmingly Republican. The Republicans might conceivably take back one or both houses of Congress.
This is a tried and true trend that has rarely faltered. Bush was the first to buck the trend, in 2002-the first President to do so since FDR almost seventy years earlier. 2002, however, was a rare exception, not the rule. In almost all cases, the party of the President almost always loses seats in Congress during an off-year election.
In 2010, under even a best case scenario, you can look for this trend to continue. The people will have many and valid reasons to turn the rascals out. Higher than ever gas prices coupled with higher than ever gasoline taxes, an out-of-control border situation, and continuing chaos in the Middle East and murky at best overall foreign policy problems, all in the context of increased taxes and a troubled economy replete with yet more job losses, higher prices and interest rates, etc. These are all possible scenarios. You could see just some of this, or all of it.
The worse thing is, it doesn't really matter this year that much who wins the presidency. McCain has promised to lead like a Democrat in the worse possible ways. When he promises to lead like a Republican, it's just as bad. It's almost like he decided to pick the worse aspects of both parties and throw out what good is in either. The only fusion of the two parties comes with his stance on the Iraq War and the War on Terror. There, he seems intent on actually melding the worse of the two parties into one abominable whole.
Whether McCain wins, or the Democratic candidate, it will unfortunately only matter when it comes time for that 2010 mid-term election. Then, that Presidents party will be the one to pay the price. It will more than likely be a big one.
Operation Chaos might conceivably extend years into the future. The people playing this game now might well be the ones who will be the sorriest for it.
