November 15, 2017 at 4:48 p.m.
Hail Mary ... for the Democrats
Hail Mary ... for the Democrats
We find that labeling curious, the relative merits of the Foxconn contract notwithstanding. A Hail Mary is defined as a "very long, typically unsuccessful pass made in a desperate attempt to score late in the game" or, more generally, "any attempt with a small chance of success."
This hardly describes Walker's re-election prospects. There's no doubt the race will be more competitive than before, and certainly Walker's approval ratings headed south long ago. There's also the fatigue factor: People start getting tired of the same governor once the third term rolls around.
But none of this indicates the governor is desperate, or even that he should be. There's good news to go with the bad, such as low unemployment, growing wages, and much lower taxes.
All of which brings us to the Democrats running for governor. There's good news and bad news for them, too.
The first is that there is a crowded field, so obviously the Democrats think Walker is vulnerable. The bad news is that there is not a shining star among them.
There's the folksy Mike McCabe, founder of Blue Jean Nation. We are skeptical that a pair of blue jeans can take down Walker's army of silk suits, but at least the Democrats haven't put up Mr. Green Jeans, though it would hardly surprise us.
The most notable candidate is state superintendent Tony Evers, which should throw some very cold water on the Democrats' aspirations. Evers's tenure overseeing the state's education landscape is much akin to a scarecrow overlooking a neglected farm field - his job is basically to scare away any parental choice or other reforms that might renourish the depleted education soil.
Good luck with that campaign.
The point is, you can't beat something with nothing, and that is the Democrats' dilemma. Scott Walker might not look so good in a vacuum but against Democrats he's still pretty darn good looking.
These days, it is the Democratic Party that is scrambling to win elections - it has been for seven years now, across the country - and so it is far more accurate to say that they are the ones heaving Hail Marys.
They have lost four special elections since Trump assumed the presidency, and their recent and much-ballyhooed wins this fall came in heavily Democratic New Jersey and Virginia, the latter of which has trended reliably blue in recent years and which Trump lost. Democrats had already prevailed in three of the last four gubernatorial elections there.
In other words, those elections were a big nothing burger.
Most tellingly, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll this month, if the presidential election were held right now, Trump would beat Hillary Clinton again, and by a larger margin. This from two news organizations that most assuredly would not skew a poll in Trump's favor.
Of course the poll still posted the reviled Hillary Clinton as the candidate, but, bizarrely, she's still their main spokesperson and so she remains the toxic symbol of their brand.
Even worse news for the Democrats, many analysts think Trump may well win in 2020 even with historically low approval ratings, by rallying his base and demonizing his opponents.
And here's the truth in that statement: Trump can get away with demonizing his opponents because middle America already views them as demons. They can't stand the Democrats' agenda of cultural identity politics, political correctness, high taxes, and big government redistributive economic policy.
Pitted against candidates who believe in those things, Trump and Walker and other deplorables look pretty darn good.
Columnist and blogger Erick Erickson, a Never-Trumper Republican, wrote a column a few weeks back in which he stated that he didn't blame Roy Moore's voters for sticking with him in Alabama.
Now make no mistake about it, Erickson himself doesn't support Moore, and neither do we. We don't support hypocritical conservative misogynists credibly accused of violent assault any more than we do liberal, holier-than-thou Hollywood hypocrites. Moore should slither away.
Erickson's point, though, was the toxicity of the Democratic agenda, so bad that a candidate who is credibly accused of misogyny, sexual predation, and even the most egregious sexual assault, might defeat it. His point is that no matter how bad Moore looks, the Democrats look even worse.
Here's how Erikson put it: "(T)he left thinks people in Alabama should have to let men use the ladies' bathroom. The left is openly counting the days before churches can have their tax exempt status revoked for not embracing gay marriage. Christian private schools will be the first targets. The media on a near weekly basis runs stories that paint culturally conservative voters in a negative light, often distorting basic facts for the sake of narrative. So you'll have to excuse Trump voters and Moore voters for thinking the left in this country with a complicit media is out to get them."
He continues: "But there are a lot of voters who are really damn tired of the culture war and they just want to be left alone. But the left won't leave them alone. They're coming for their churches' tax exempt status. They are coming to force them to either get on board the secular progressive agenda or go into hiding. They are coming for their kids and their guns as well. So now you are telling them they are really awful, bad people if they stick with Roy Moore instead of allowing into office a man who will side with the people who are out to get them? I suspect they'll take your aspersions and hate."
Now Moore probably won't win the election if he stays in the race, for many likely will choose to stay home. But the point is that Democrats are only really in good position to win elections when they are run on the most narrow turf of already Democratic states - a smaller and smaller turf these days - or in the most extreme political situations where they have a chance - a chance - to defeat the most fundamentally flawed candidates they face.
That the election is even still in doubt tells us that it is the Democrats who must always throw Hail Marys. They must throw Hail Marys because the American people have long ago rejected their big-government agenda.
They cannot win an election on the merits of their policies. And so they rely on dependency politics, illegal voting, dead people voting, unethical behavior and corruption and even sexual assault on the other side. They come up with, or, as in the case in Alabama, stumble into ways to potentially win.
The one thing they cannot do is win elections on their own, except in the echo chambers of tin-foil hatted urban neighborhoods.
They are forced constantly to throw Hail Marys, a comforting thought since, most of the time, except when an unforced error of coverage is made, Hail Marys are so easily defended by the opposition.
Hail Marys are the trademarks of desperate losers.
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