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Election Results

      Finally I can turn on the TV without having to watch Arlen Specter Swiftboating Joe Sestak’s military career, nor do I have to put up with Sestak holding forth on Specter’s switch of parties and cozying up to President George Bush throughout most of his Senatorial career.
      Both stories were true; Sestak repeatedly showed a clip of Specter admitting he changed parties in order to be re-e-lec-ted, and another of President Bush telling how he could always count on Arlen. Of the two, the switching of parties was probably the most effective; in the eyes of the voters it branded Specter as untrustworthy and not a true Democrat.
      As to Sestak’s military record, the following is from the Navy Times of July 25, 2005: “Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) Vice Adm. Joseph Sestak was administratively reassigned July 25 by new Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen, according to Rear Adm. T. McCreary, chief of naval information.
      “A source within the Navy Department said there were no allegations of misconduct on the part of Sestak. Rather, he said, the move is being made because of poor command climate.” This was effectively the end of Sestak’s military career.
      So the voters have decided; Specter’s bid to become a six term Senator has been canceled.
      Even without the impact of Sestak’s negative commercials, Specter supposedly had one other thing going against him: the anti-incumbent mood of the country. In Kentucky, ultra-conservative Rand Paul, backed by the Tea Party, scored a win against the Republican party favorite, Trey Grayson; and in Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln, backed by labor unions, is facing a runoff against popular Bill Halter.
      In Pennsylvania, however, the anti-incumbent argument did not fly – according to the intelligencer Journal “All but one incumbent state legislator won their primaries, and every single congressman who faced an opponent was victorious.”
      But both parties are troubled by the primary results.
      Historically the majority party loses seats in the mid-term elections; the mood of the country today is particularly troubling for the Democrats. While they can afford to lose a few seats in the House, their tenuous majority in the Senate is definitely in jeopardy.
      As for the Republicans, the apparently rising strength of the Tea Party is a serious problem. The further the mood of the ex-faithful shifts to the right, the more likely it becomes that the party will lose the important votes of the more centrally located party members, as well as many Independents’ votes.
      Of rising concern for both parties is the slow but steady ascendance of the Coffee Party – the people who don’t worry about party affiliation. These people are clamoring for the major parties to give up the negative attitude, start cooperating, and take a shot at doing what is right for the country.
      What a radical, although interesting idea! Let us hope its time has come!
******
      But the real power of language lay in its enabling man to speak of things in his “inside” world: his ambitions, hopes, dreams, fears, emotions, insights, ideas, etc. It is obvious that other animals feel certain emotions, for example, the gazelle fears the lion. But the gazelle who escapes the lion cannot tell other gazelles about the intense fear he felt.
      The Growth Of Language – The Spirit Runs Through It.

The book and/or a free look inside is available in paperback or on Kindle at Amazon.

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