Indiana — Still Conservative

There was some excited chatter on the left yesterday about Indiana becoming a blue state.
In a word: Bullshit. Hoosiers are ticket-splitters from way back (even if that was teeth-grindingly moronic in this particular election). Mitch Daniels, one of the most conservative governors we’ve seen in decades, pretty much coasted to victory.
Now you can say that was because Jill Long Thompson ran an incompetent campaign, and that she was even less desirable as a candidate now than she was years ago when she was just plain ol’ Jill Long. And that she picked (or had foisted on her) one of the worst candidates for lieutenant governor since, hell, I dunno, Robert Rock. And that the people of Indiana are sick and tired of “progressive” bullshit running up their tax bills.
No, basically, Indiana is a red state that had a brain fart this year when it came to president.
It’s clear that we want more of what Mitch has been pitching; otherwise we’d have thrown him out (notwithstanding that they probably still want to do that up in Lake and St. Joseph Counties, but that’s because they still think Mitch “sold” the Toll Road). Even as pissed as I am about daylight savings time, that wasn’t enough for me to throw the man to the curb for (shudder) Jill Long Thompson.
OK, so if this presidential election in Indiana was a referendum on George Bush, why did the majority vote for Obama? Why not throw your vote to Bob Barr and the Libertarians instead?
Well, I’ll tell you. It’s because the Libertarian Party, no matter how hard it tries, is never going to be a major voice in American politics until it gets rid of the potheads, the Birchers, and the other nut-cases, and steers a truly small-c conservative path with strong small-c conservative candidates who aren’t perceived as lightweights or bigots. The only way the Libertarian Party will ever be taken seriously is if it performs an old-fashioned William F. Buckley purge of its fringe kook single-issue members and starts behaving like the party of classical liberalism.
But I digress.
Indiana is just as red a state as it was two days ago. Now that the punishment of George W. Bush and the Republicans is over, we’ll see just how long Barack Hussein Obama can count on Indiana being faux blue. My guess is less than six months.

One Reply to “Indiana — Still Conservative”

  1. My one consolation leading up to the election was knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Long-Thompson was going to get beaten like a drum.
    Election day I hung out with a friend who was playing hooky from the office. The day started at a Bob Evans out towards the Brownsburg ‘burbs, went down to the Starbucks at 38th & Meridian, thence to the downtown library, the State Museum, 500 Guns out on 16th, Naked Tchopstix in Broad Ripple, and back out to the western ‘burbs.
    During that whole odyssey, all on surface streets, my friend and I counted five (count ’em, 5!) Jill lawn signs!
    She was slated for an ass-whuppin’ of Mondalesque proportions.

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