Hennessy's View

Don’t bother blaming it on poll questions designed to lead respondents.  Never mind that it’s a long way until the election. And stop whining about the White House fudging the numbers on unemployment.

The fact is that Obama’s surging at just the right time. His re-election chances are now above 50 percent. His intrade.com chances of winning are near 60 percent. And he’s raising more money than al of the Republican candidates combined.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Republicans Advertise; Democrats Market:  For decades, conservatives have held marketers in disdain.  They’ve done the same for the fields that support marketing: creative writing, acting, music, art, education, soft sciences, and entertainment.  As a result, fewer and fewer casual voters feel emotionally connected to Republicans.

Unless the GOP figures out how to stop shouting and start connecting, they’ll take a drubbing in November.

Team Obama Will Do Anything to Win: Of course they’ll cheat and break the law. They pretty much tell us so.  That can also work against them. To turn the tide, though, Republicans have to show the cheating, not whine about it.

When Mike Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield’s ear, everyone became a Holyfield fan and turned against Tyson. Had Holyfield blamed the bite for every bad thing that happened thereafter, we’d have tired of him very quickly. And if we hadn’t seen the bite in slow motion, we’d never have believed him.

Be patient. Record everything. Show, don’t tell people.  People will the do the right thing.

Commitment Kills Apathy:  (Yes, I’m sort of in this boat myself. Sort of.)  Casual voters take their cues on whom to support from the passionate politics wonks they know. If you’re one of the wonks and you’re showing apathy, you’re sending a strong signal to the causals.  You’re saying, in effect, “Go ahead and vote for Obama; we’ll try again in 2016.”

Two problems with this approach:  first, if your party isn’t ready to field a viable candidate for President every four years, your party should probably disband.  Second, if we give Obama another 4 years, there might not be an election as we know them in 2016.

If you’re still not committed and you’re still not enthused, then buy a ticket for the 3rd Anniversary Tea Party anyway.  Maybe someone there will inspire you.

Of course, you can always just give up and blame someone else.  That’s becoming the new American way.

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When Barack Obama declared that Catholics must either violate their consciences or face government persecution, he wasn’t going after just Catholics.  Nor was he promoting healthcare.

Barack Obama and his myrmidon Kathleen Sebelius tried to erase the First Amendment.  They tried to erase religious freedom.  They tried to take away yet another foundational liberty that made America America.

And they will try again!

Unless you stop them.

But how are you going to stop them alone? 

Well, you are not alone.

On February 24 and 25, you can meet your army and get your training.  You can become a soldier in the war for religious and economic freedom. 

The 3rd Anniversary Tea Party weekend is boot camp for the battle of 2012.  For just $65 for the entire weekend—meals included—you can arm yourself with the latest in political warfare.

Can’t make it both days?  Tickets are available for Friday evening or Saturday, too.

But please sign up now.  We need to know how many soldiers are willing to launch this battle.

If you cannot attend, sponsor someone else to take your place.

Please pray for our mission whether you attend or not.  We need God’s help above all else.

Obama showed us just how far he’s willing to go to eradicate, or at least subdue, religion from the United States. He’s willing to go further. Given another four years and the mandate of re-election, Obama’s change will extinguish hope.

 This is our crusade.  This is our battle. This our prayer.  That we may remain free to worship and live, to work and pray as we think best in pursuit of happiness and a good society.

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A man lost in thought is liable to say anything.  Anything at all. 

A guy sitting behind me at a restaurant in Lambert airport began singing along with the background music.  “Burning down the house (do do).” 

Perfect.

November 2, American voters burned down the U.S. House.  Before the vote, estimates ranged from 45 to 70 seats switching from Democrats to Republicans. Burning down the house, indeed.  The final number was 63.

Among the states, the GOP took control of a majority of state legislatures and governorships.  That means that Republicans will determine (with help from interventionist federal judges) how Congressional districts will look for 2012 and beyond.

While Republican U.S. House and Senate candidates are, on average, slightly more conservative than usual, at the state level, candidates skew even further right.  Moreover, the state candidates tend to be young, intelligent, and determined. And the decline of the Democrat party has some of its state legislators jumping over the GOP.

Combined, this could position GOP conservatives to dominate legislative politics in America for a generation or more. Paul Curtman, a Marine who dressed down Senator Claire McCaskill in July 2009 won Missouri’s 105th House seat—a rare feat for a Republican.  Paul is just one of hundreds of highly qualified new faces in government. 

When the Tea Party movement started in February 2009, we said we’d make a difference—quickly if we could, gradually if we must.  While some of us are more patient than others, it seems we might score both short-term and long-term gains in 2010.  That would be a remarkable gift from the Tea Party to America. 

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Six hundred fourteen days from the first Tea Parties to Election Day.  That’s 307 days in 2009 and 307 in 2010. 

In that time, we’ve met so many people.  We’ve made too many friends. (Psychologists and sociologists and anthropologists believe that a person can manage no more than 150 human relationships, so there is such a thing as too many friends.) Most of us, I’m afraid, have seen friendships end, too.  Some ended because of our politics; some for other reasons.

But we’ve seen stars emerge.  As much as many of us would like to think of ourselves as stars, there are really only  a few: those in the arena.  They’re the stars.  We asked for leaders, and we got them.  We asked for people to go to Washington and Jefferson City and Springfield and to there serve us well.

Some stepped forward.

Today we pay tribute to those who took up the challenge.  We cast our votes.  The wise and patient will ignore petty differences with this candidate or that and elect the best candidate who can win.  And we all know what that means. In some places, it means voting for a so a called third party, like Tom Tancredo of Colorado. But in most places, it’s usually the Republican. 

Tomorrow night, we’ll gather in hotels and Tea Party headquarters and watch the tally.  We’ll cheer most races. We’ll mourn a few, too. 

In the end, we’ll have made the country stronger.  The frayed friendships will, as the passions of election season wane, mend themselves, I think.  We’ll realize how much we’ve accomplished—this odd collection of people called “The Tea Party.” 

It’s been a strange and stressful 614 days, friends.  Thank you for taking me with you. 

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It’s been almost two years since we met. At the time, I had no idea where this was going. Or what I was doing.

I still don’t know what I’m doing, but we all know where America is headed.

Beginning Tuesday, because of your passionate, tireless efforts, America is returning to the right course to meet the destiny our founders envisioned.

On Tuesday, your vote, joined with millions of others, will turn the country around.  Or at least arrest the dangers drift we’ve been on.

We will elect national candidates like Ed Martin and Roy Blunt.  We’ll replace the pro-Obama Auditor with Tom Schweich.  And we’ll elect countless qualified State legislators like Paul Curtman, Gary Fuhr, Brian Nieves, and others.

Join us Tuesday evening for a watch party and celebration at 4512 Hampton Avenue, just south of Hampton Village.  We’ll have trolley service to Ed Martin’s and Gary Fuhr’s celebrations.

Thank you for the most amazing journey of my life.  And thank God it’s only the beginning.

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