NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- I admit to being one optimist who believed with little doubt that Election Day 2012 would result in a glorious result. My optimism was partially rewarded and partially crushed by the voters, those running campaigns, those counting votes and those reporting events (or not).
Believing in my heart that most Americans want our country to succeed rather than fail, I knew that the Romney/Ryan ticket would prevail. Their knowledge of the economy and what it would take to get people back to work and solve our debt crisis along with their profound belief in the Constitution and the “idea of America” would win the day.
These are good men with brave ideas and plenty of knowledge. Surely Americans would judge wisely and well, giving them a chance to rescue our crashing country. Instead, the mendacious con-artist who is happily escorting our country to financial ruin while he personally revels in the trappings of the Presidency somehow won it for four more years.
• Four more years of shredding or ignoring the Constitution.
• Four more years of appointing creepy people to office who want to fundamentally transform our great nation into a third world banana republic.
• Four more years of piling on regulations that stifle any opportunity for energy independence, business resurgence, diminished welfare rolls and improved education. That’s bad.
While the House of Representatives stayed in Republican hands, the Senate is even more tilted to the Democrats and their do-nothing, haven’t passed a budget in four years craziness, who are led by a jerk named Harry Reid who ignores every bill passed in the House and sent to the Senate for action. That’s good and bad.
But clouds do have silver linings, and I see those in what happened locally in Volusia County, my home spot.
To the greatest extent ever, conservative ideas and candidates prevailed. We will have Republicans Dorothy Hukill and John Thrasher rather than Democrats Frank Bruno and Kathleen Trued as our state senators.
To the greatest extent ever, conservative ideas and candidates prevailed. We will have Republicans Dorothy Hukill and John Thrasher rather than Democrats Frank Bruno and Kathleen Trued as our state senators.
We will add the very promising new-to-state government Republicans David Santiago and David Hood as representatives to the Florida House.
Our County Council will have a conservative chair in Jason Davis and southeast Volusia County will be represented by conservative Debra Denys. The very experienced former legislator and county council member Pat Patterson is back on the council.
Have there ever been three Republicans on the Volusia County Council at the same time before? Can they lead other Council members towards smaller, more efficient and less expensive government? If so, that’s good.
What is ugly is the nastiness of the messaging in many of the national and state campaigns. How could the Romney campaign bounce back from months of TV ads calling him a greedy, rich guy who cared nothing about the people who he’d govern when the reality was so different?
He was called a felon by Obama’s deputy campaign manager, and accused of causing the death of a man’s wife in a supposedly “independent” expenditure ad which later was discovered to be illegally coordinated with the president’s campaign.
Our president is even on record calling him a bullsh***er in what has to be one of the more unpresidental quotes ever known. This was no accidental “hot mike” incident.
What is also ugly is the emerging level of voter fraud stories flooding out of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, all swing states that appeared to be trending to Romney towards the end.
While demagogue Jesse Jackson is claiming that long lines are the polls equal voter suppression, and Eric Holder’s “Justice” Department fought states’ efforts to secure legal voting with identification, we now know about incidents such as large numbers of Republican deputized poll watchers being barred from entering polling places in Philadelphia until a judge intervened.
Many precincts in these states and others had more votes cast than registered voters. The one I’ve seen reported that is so far most stunning is 149% of legally registered voters showing up to vote.
Senile seniors, homeless folks and the truly ignorant were rustled up, dragged to the polls and told how to vote. Who can count how many dead people were remarkably resurrected to make a ballot?
I am sure some stories about voter fraud on the Republican side will surface, although most of the ugliness seems to be coming out of Democrat precincts and Democrat controlled states and counties.
More ugly can be found in the stories held back by the White House or other government agencies and the coordinated cover-up of the Benghazi murders. Head of the CIA General Petraeus resigning over information held by the Department of Justice until two days after the election? Ugly.
More ugly can be found in the stories held back by the White House or other government agencies and the coordinated cover-up of the Benghazi murders. Head of the CIA General Petraeus resigning over information held by the Department of Justice until two days after the election? Ugly.
FEMA failures in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy that make Katrina troubles look like a birthday party? Ugly.
Substantial story after story being held back by major media outlets because they would portray the Obama administration as incompetent and feckless on foreign policy? Ugly.
Yes, Republicans held the U.S. House of Representatives and there were some fine victories at the state and local levels around the nation.
However, it’s hard to focus on the good when our Republic is being destroyed from within by people too willing to cheat; resort to lies, tricks and nastiness; and hold back important information from the voters rather than run the risk of winning or losing legally, cleanly and on an even, open playing field.
May we never see or experience the likes of the 2012 election again.
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Headline Surfer is Florida's first 24/7 Internet newspaper based in New Smyrna Beach and covering Volusia County and beyond. It is accessed free via HeadlineSurfer.com, NSBNews.net and VolusiaNews.net and published by Henry Frederick, winner of four awards in the 2012 Florida Press Club Contest, including 1st place for blog writing and 3rd place in the categories of general news writing, public safety reporting and best online presence with use of social media.