Scandals And Midterms

I'd like to warn those Americans who are sick of beltway 'politics as usual' and vicious partisan bickering - you ain't seen nothing yet. The 2006 midterms will be every bit as partisan (maybe more) as the 2000 and 2004 election cycles. With Democrats thirsty to return to power in Congress and incumbent Republicans hoping merely to survive, I expect to see tremendous amounts of money spent and some bitter exchanges between candidates. Particularly important in the 2006 election cycle will be the various scandals occurring in Washington (Plamegate-->Libby/Rove Gate; NSA domestic spying/'terrorist surveillance'; Abramoff/lobbying scandals). For this post I'm going to focus on the political maneuvering around the NSA spying scandal, an issue that members of both parties seem to be eager to address. (I have posted on the politics of domestic spying; these comments were an initial reaction and many of the main points are still relevant: http://the-last-polka.blogspot.com/2005/12/politics-of-domestic-spying.html ; http://the-last-polka.blogspot.com/2005/12/more-on-politics-of-spying.html)

"Terrorist surveillance program" - NSA Spying and GOP Strategies

Some Republicans (especially those in moderate-liberal districts/states) have been eager to distance themselves from the president on many issues, including domestic and foreign policies. However, the NSA controversy is a different beast entirely - while certainly controversial, Republicans have begun to frame this debate as one of essential national security vs. liberal whining over legal technicalities. Rove and company have made it clear what the GOP national security platform will be (it should sound familiar): Democrats have a pre-9/11 world view and will not protect you and your family in these dire times. The NSA spying controversy is actually a relatively strong issue for the President - he has come out swinging from the beginning and will continue to do so. He recently spoke about declassified information regarding an attempted attack in LA; it seems that this foiled attack had nothing to do with the NSA program, but that doesn't matter. The main point is the same - this president and the Republican party are committed to protecting you and yours. As Iowa Gov. Vilsack recently implied(and I predicted soon after the program was revealed [1]), the Democrats are falling right into this trap and are once again allowing the GOP to frame this debate. Unless Dems start talking seriously about sanctioning the administration (i.e. censure, impeachment) for this abuse, they will look like a bunch of whining softies. Obviously, without a majority in either house of Congress, talking about censuring/impeaching the president is useless. Most Americans (including myself) aren't very well versed on the inner workings of the FISA Court - thus, citing abstract, legal objections to the program may not be wise.

Ethics/Corruption

Here's a scandal that might actually work well for the Democrats. Self described "independents" and "moderates" don't respond well to corruption. Since the Democratic leadership seems...reluctant to offer actual alternative policies (see "Oh Howard..." from November '05 [2]), they should hammer home this Republican-corruption angle. They've been handed several high profile corruption cases and they should not sit on them. Why not go after the deficit and pork barrel spending while you're at it (Remember the "Bridge to Nowhere" - that might make a good DNC ad...just a thought).

Cheney Shooting

Okay, this incident will not have any impact on the midterms, but I felt like I should mention it. On that note, I hope Cheney's victim will recover fully from this unfortunate accident. (More on the politics of VP Assault With Deadly Weapon later).


[1] From The Last Polka, 12/18: "I expect the Democrats to run, full speed ahead, into this trap; they will once again be painted with the 'weak on defense' brush."

[2] I like citing myself, so here's part of what that post said:

[Dean]: "Right now it's not our job to give out specifics. We have no control in the House. We have no control in the Senate."

And here's what I said: "What? It's not your job? It's not your job to tell voters what you would do differently? Its not your job to articulate specific policy differences between the Administration and the Opposition?... The head of the National Democratic party said those very words on Meet The Press on 11/13/05. Russert asked him about specific Democratic plans on Social Security, the deficit, Iraq, energy prices, and other issues, and that is how the DNC chairman responded. PITIFUL. EMBARRASSING."

Yeah, I don't like Howard Dean