I used to love this time of year. First, it was October, my birth month.
Second, the temperature began to drop enough that it was comfortable to
be outside wearing a jacket or sweater. Third, the elections were coming
soon. In the old days Fritz Rench and I tried to encourage many
Presidential-year voters to vote in the non-Presidential elections. It
was fun and exciting and we won many times. Later, while running a
political action committee, I had a nationwide field team which would
report from local communities. Now I am excited no more. Oh, I still
love October and my grandchildren are wonderful on my birthday but the
elections interest me less. It is not because there are negative ads.
People who are critical of negative advertising are unfamiliar with our
history. Negative ads and vicious cartoons have existed from the
founding of the Republic.
I understand well what is at stake in the current election. What is the
problem then?
I think it is disappointment with the 109th Congress. On election night
in 2004 when Republicans defeated the Majority Leader of the Senate and
picked up four seats I was really excited. I had been tracking Jim
Bunning (R-KY) all evening and was thrilled when he won. At last, I
thought, we will be able to do big things. Karl Rove spoke to the
Council for National Policy and told how every single objective which
the President had announced before the election was achieved.
Then Harry M. Reid (D-NV), the Minority Leader of the Senate, began to
dictate terms. One would have thought the Democrats had won the
election. This happened all through the session. It was terribly
disappointing. The Democrats had a nasty game plan. It involved blocking
President George W. Bush from drilling for domestic supplies of oil. It
meant short-changing our troops. It meant sending our brave men and
women mixed signals. It even meant trying to restrict the President from
trying to protect the nation by monitoring suspicious telephone calls.