“I don’t see what you all are so happy about,” Peter Keating said, sitting at the table over a late lunch at the Shed Wednesday afternoon, after the election. “We just had our heads handed to us, and the Progressive Movement is in shambles.”
I must admit that Wesley Mouch, Cuffy Meigs and I were almost giddy. True, we had lost the races for governor and secretary of state, but we knew that was coming for some time. Our dear Diane simply was not up to overcoming the mind-boggling unpopularity of Bill Richardson, and our secretary of state was a total nut case. The biggest setback of all will end up being the loss of eight seats in the state house, where our 45 to 25 advantage has now been cut to 37 to 33.
Nonetheless, there were some positives. “Look at the bright side, Petey,” I said. “Wesley and Cuffy really came through with our ground game. We performed about 3 points better than expected compared to all the final polls – which was enough to pull out the CD1 race for Martin Heinrich and the Attorney General’s race for Gary King.” (Things could have been a bit sticky for Big Bill and some of his associates if that nosey Matt Chandler had been elected, so quite a few of our friends were relieved when King won – although it was too close for comfort.)
“Thanks, Ellsworth,” Cuffy laughed, as he chugged down a cup of coffee. “Our union folks understood there was a knife at their throats. While the Republicans tried to get out their vote with robo calls, our folks were out on the streets, tracking down our voters at their homes, picking them up in vans and dragging them to the polls.”
“And don’t forget that social security ad,” Wesley added. “We really scared the crap out of the old farts.”
“Remember what I told you a few weeks ago, Petey,” I said. “Who cares if that attack on Jon Barela — that he would privatize social security — was a lie? You have to be willing to say anything to win. You simply repeat the lie over and over, and the rabble will believe it. We lost 60 seats nationally, but that ad saved Martin Heinrich.”
“You saved him this year,” Keating responded, “but what about two years from now? Republicans and moderate Democrats now dominate the legislature, and they and that awful Susana Martinez are going to redraw the districts. If they manage to shift a few precincts, Heinrich is toast.”
“Don’t worry about that, Keating,” Wesley replied. “Ellsworth and I have already been meeting with our redistricting lawyers, and they assure us we have the situation under control. All we need to do is tie redistricting up in the legislature like we did ten years ago, and the lines will be drawn by the courts.”
“And you know how we Progressives tend to fare in the New Mexico courts,” I said. “I think our friends in the judiciary will ensure that the new CD1 keeps our golden boy in Congress for a good long time.”
“But look at what we lost in Congress,” Keating cried. “Sixty seats! All the gains from 2006 and 2008 have been wiped out. All that work over the past four years, and we have nothing to show for it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I said, as I finished off my Gazpacho. “We have saddled the nation with huge new government programs, and with crushing debt. Two steps forward, one step back, as the saying goes. Try as they might, the tea baggers can’t turn back the clock. Our unseen allies, deep in the bureaucracy, are expanding government in ways the ignoramuses can’t even imagine.”
“This was just a temporary setback, Petey. There is nothing the Republicans can do to stop us. Remember what that great Progressive Nikita Khrushchev once said — ?? ??? ?????????! – We will bury you!”
“Resistance is futile.”
_____
A few added political notes, for my Progressive friends:
1. I am no fan of Peggy Noonan’s politics, but I certainly admire her use of invective. On Friday, Ms. Peggy ripped the guts out of one Sarah Palin, writing that a recent statement Ms. Palin made about the sainted Ronald Reagan was “ignorant even for Mrs. Palin,” that “The point is not ‘He was a great man and you are a nincompoop,’ though that is true,” and the clincher, “Americans don’t want, as their representatives, people who seem empty or crazy.”
Simply vicious, Peggy — I loved it.
2. Gary Johnson’s candor has finally finished off what little hope he had in his upcoming presidential campaign. It is one thing for Mr. Johnson to advocate the legalization of marijuana – which may be popular with the libertarians at Reason and Cato, but not with the bible thumpers who populate the Republican base. However, it is quite another thing to diss the baby Jesus.
Here’s what Ben Birnbaum at The New Republic wrote about his recent interview with Mr. Johnson:
There are certain shibboleths in presidential politics that even the most forthright candidates feel obliged to repeat, certain topics they feel compelled to avoid. Yet talk to former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, the unorthodox 2012 GOP hopeful, and those rules go out the window. Ask about church, and he says he doesn’t go.
“Do you believe in Jesus?” I ask. “I believe he lived,” he replies with a smile.
“I believe he lived”? That’s it? Elvis lived, and so did John Lennon.
Even ardent Progressives like Barack Obama realize that if you want to be elected to anything in this backward country, you need to spout the standard bromides about believing in the Lord and attending church once in a while. Gary might have scored a few points with Objectivists, devotees of Christopher Hitchens and Bill Maher, but that simply won’t do with the trailer trash who vote in Republican primaries.
Stick a fork in Gary — he’s done.