Touché, Republican party,Touché
For the past four years the Republican party has been in firm control of Washington, and quite honestly ran a great campaign in 2004. Now it appears that the political pendulum of power may swing, not because of deft politcal movement of the Democratic party but because of a number of self inflicted wounds.
Things have not gotten any better in Iraq, a grand total of two provinces have been handed over to Iraqi security forces, and more than 2,000 American soldiers have died since mission accomplished. Yet, we have heard the same basic mantra coming from the White House. Now Republican canidates try to distance themselves from the President, and his own party has supported very moderate Republicans instead over conservatives. (I'm talking about Chafee not Lieberman... ba zing)
Then when you think things cannot get any worse three republicans may have cost their party some key seats in congress.
First there is Peter Roskam (R) who is running for reelction in Illinois 6th district. He has accused his challenger Tammy Duckworth (D) of wanting America to cut and run in Iraq. Whats wrong with this you ask, well she happened to be an Iraqi war veteran who has lost both her legs when her helicopter was shot down. Roskam denies the cliam, saying he was misquoted an misrepresented, however it is now believes that Duckworth has a chance to win the staunchly republican district. link
Then there is Sen. Allen (R) Virginia. He has been accused of being racist and denying his heritage in the past few weeks. He called a young American Democrat of Indian decent a "macaca" which is punjabi for monkey, he claims to have made the word up but he clearly intended for the young Indian-American man and even said "Welcome to America". We can never really know what Sen. Allen was thinking, but he clearly meant something when he said it. Also number of people have come forward recently claiming he has used the N word numerous times when he was younger, and has been recently accused of denying his Jewish heritage. Sen. Allen once considered a future presidential canidate will struggle to hold onto his seat in the senate against James Wedd (D). Here is a the macaca video.
Last is the case of Rep. Mark Foley (R) who resigned from office this week for sending what have been called "sick, sick, sick" e-mails to a 16 year old page. Republicans in the 16th district now have a week to find a new canidate in what has been a strongly republican district. The fact that GOP leaders have known about this for more than year probably won't help. link
Things have not gotten any better in Iraq, a grand total of two provinces have been handed over to Iraqi security forces, and more than 2,000 American soldiers have died since mission accomplished. Yet, we have heard the same basic mantra coming from the White House. Now Republican canidates try to distance themselves from the President, and his own party has supported very moderate Republicans instead over conservatives. (I'm talking about Chafee not Lieberman... ba zing)
Then when you think things cannot get any worse three republicans may have cost their party some key seats in congress.
First there is Peter Roskam (R) who is running for reelction in Illinois 6th district. He has accused his challenger Tammy Duckworth (D) of wanting America to cut and run in Iraq. Whats wrong with this you ask, well she happened to be an Iraqi war veteran who has lost both her legs when her helicopter was shot down. Roskam denies the cliam, saying he was misquoted an misrepresented, however it is now believes that Duckworth has a chance to win the staunchly republican district. link
Then there is Sen. Allen (R) Virginia. He has been accused of being racist and denying his heritage in the past few weeks. He called a young American Democrat of Indian decent a "macaca" which is punjabi for monkey, he claims to have made the word up but he clearly intended for the young Indian-American man and even said "Welcome to America". We can never really know what Sen. Allen was thinking, but he clearly meant something when he said it. Also number of people have come forward recently claiming he has used the N word numerous times when he was younger, and has been recently accused of denying his Jewish heritage. Sen. Allen once considered a future presidential canidate will struggle to hold onto his seat in the senate against James Wedd (D). Here is a the macaca video.
Last is the case of Rep. Mark Foley (R) who resigned from office this week for sending what have been called "sick, sick, sick" e-mails to a 16 year old page. Republicans in the 16th district now have a week to find a new canidate in what has been a strongly republican district. The fact that GOP leaders have known about this for more than year probably won't help. link