Don’t believe any spin you read out of the White House or the DNC. This is huge. It is a complete rejection of the president, and I guarantee you his campaign is as worried as a lamb at a kabob shop.
I’m from New York. My aunt lives in the district, which is in Queens, and I’ve been going there all my life. This place is as not Republican as it gets. In fact, it hasn’t been represented by a Republican since the time of Woodrow Wilson.
The latest returns in the special election for New York’s Ninth Congressional District – forced by the resignation of Twitter Flasher Rep. Anthony Weiner – give Republican Bob Turner a commanding 53 percent of the vote to Democrat David Weprin’s 47 percent.
Turner framed the race as a referendum on President Obama. Exit interviews suggest voters were intent on sending a message to Obama about the economy.
Turner also appealed to the district’s heavily Jewish population to make a statement as well on Obama’s poor treatment of Israel. Turner is Catholic while Weprin is Jewish, suggesting clearly that voters had Obama on their mind – they couldn’t really have been concerned about a Jewish congressman’s votes on Israel.
In 2010, a bad year for Democrats, Weiner defeated Turner by 20 points. The wave of anger at the president and his policies that brought about Republican control of the House seems even more intense today.
Democrats spent heavily and sent in big guns like Bill Clinton and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo to try to save the seat.
Obama stayed as far away as possible.
61 thoughts on “Republican Seizes Heavily Democratic District”
Conservatives are having fun with Obama’s new website:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/signup/o2012-attackwatch-report-an-attac Here are some tweets:
https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23attackwatch
I got in the act but I’m one of just thousands.
#AttackWatch.Where do I report a rude person who insists on putting his shoes all over the Oval Office furniture Pics http://on.fb.me/prVfRc
We are motivated! I see signs of this everyday. I don’t think it can be measured to its full extent in the polls.
I really feel it here in the way I did in 2010, even more.
Thank you for the link. Those tweets are hilarious! Wonder how long before this mistake gets pulled back like the Linda Douglass email fiasco during the Obamacare battle.
I don’t want to sound stupid..but…I joined the attackwatch site to keep getting laughs then got a tweeter account set up. I’m old and computer stuff doesn’t come easy for me:) How do I get to the comments sections on the attackwatch site?
I’m a newbie too Lisa. I typed #attackwatch in Twitter search field and saved the search. The comments are hysterical!
Thanks so much!! I’ll get all this stuff…some day..lol
here’s the link. they’re posting them faster than I can refresh the page.
https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23AttackWatch
My family use to live in that district and saying it’s “as not Republican as it gets” is an understatement to the 100th degree. My father use to say he was one of maybe 3 registered Republicans in the area and they could all fit in a phone booth if they ever wanted to have a meeting like the local Democratic party did from time to time. The rest of the country may not fully grasp how huge the election was last night (everthing gets brushed off as a “New York thing”) but if things don’t change, it looks like the Democrats will be out of the big 3 (the house, senate, and the white house) by the end of next year.
I’m sure BHO didn’t take this news very well. Just one more indicator how bad 2012 is going to be.
I would like to see a moving van show up to the front gate and say that they are ready to start packing them up and moving them to back to Chicago.
Of course, BHO will see this as the need to hit the trail on AF1 and campain under the disguise as selling an usless new stimulis, act or program.
Where’s Michelle?
Please don’t send them back here to Chicago. Send him back to Hawaii.
No….Kenya!
Gay marriage was a huge factor in this campaign. Both Jewish and Hispanic groups raised money for Turner on this issue.
Interesting, thanks Rosie. That’s why Obama is waiting until after reelect to endorse gay marriage – knows how it could play among Orthodox Jews, Hispanics, and even blacks.
Gay marriage is already legal here, hillbillies. We don’t need the president’s help. Local power! Woo!
But you must all be thrilled that Mississippi is making progress on bringing back alley abortions back to their state. I guess progress can’t be halted anywhere! And they say our country is in decline.
I don’t care if gays marry–does that make me the not hillbilly?
Yes. Yes it does. That is the official demarcation line between hillbillies and citybillies.
And you are–sillybilly? I can’t keep this straight. Willynilly.
Hey Death Ray….
All abortions are back-alley jobs when you get down to it. Ever heard of Planned Parenthood? You can even send them doanations that target killing only black fetuses or any other group you’d like. They were caught on camera saying that. Now there’s a nice bunch of folks right there – city slicker.
Look, all I want to know is how many stories about women dying from illegal abortions will be acceptable to you when they finally start turning up in news coverage. One a month? Three? As soon as I hear a conservative say flat out : “Three woman a month dying from back alley abortions in my state is A-OK”, then we can have the honest conversation this topic deserves.
Can you read? It’s Jews, Blacks and Hispanics that oppose gay marriage in New York! Why insult people that have nothing to do with this election?
Hillbillys???? Hillbillys???? You had to add hillbillys? Why can’t you just state your point and stop with the name calling? Besides, we are coming for you.
He can’t help himself on the names and vulgarities, apparently.. I would apprec wittier posts, but what are ya gonna do?
DR, come one, if you want to provoke, do it with arguments, not flaming pls.
Sorry Keith. Didn’t I cop to being a citybilly, though? Surely that is just as offensive.
Hey, I can think of some Jews, blacks and hispanics who don’t oppose gay marriage: gay jews, gay blacks and gay hispanics! Gay hillbillies too, for that matter.
Oh wait, I must walk that back a tick. Gay Puerto Rican conservative senator Robert Arango hates gay rights but loves posting proctological photos of himself on gay websites! Republicans, just how many of your homophobic policymakers will finally be revealed to be gay themselves, do you think? 90%? 95%? Surely not more than 97%. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/28/roberto-arango-puerto-rico_n_939714.html
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Conservatives kicked butt in NY-9 :-)
That’s what I am saying! Conservatives, more often than not, are REALLY into butts.
Now watch those up for re-election next year start distancing themselves from the ‘One’ like rats deserting a sinking ship!
worried as a lamb at a kabob shop – awesome LOL!!
That was cute, Keith.
We were celebrating in our house last night!
High fives all around!!
I’m thinking it had to do with the squirrel on Weprin’s head. Seriously, this is an amazing result and it just proves to us all that the American spirit is alive and well. Thank you fellow Americans of the New York 9th District! The tide is receding….get ready for the tsunami.
Michelle is getting ready for her big fundraiser in NYC 9-20 Gloria Steinem
and her coven over a cauldron of cash:)
Yawn. Republican picks up seat lost by liberal who embarrassed his party in a highly public way. If you call that huge you must be amazed at the mammoth size of, say, a neutron.
When Republicans have more going for them than “waves of anger”, the country might be poised for some good news.
Liberals have been embarrasing themselves across the country for decades, but not since 1922 has there been enough of a backlash to oust a Dem from what was always a GUARANTEED seat, while defeating the big money spent to hold it. This IS huge – why not head back over to the Kos, or are they too depressed over there??
I am amazed at the myopia of polit junkies who see every election turnover as the next aeon. You guys said the same thing about Scott Brown.
But allow me to demonstrate the unimportance of this moment with a clear parallel from earlier this year: Chris Lee, R, New York 26th district (leans Republican), embarrassed out of office in an Internet photo scandal, replaced in a special election by Democrat Kathy Hochul, aka, “The beginning of the Democratic House clawback!!”
The public is fickle, and congressman come and go. Deflate your boners, people.
I’m not angry, little man. I’m awake, I thank the unprecedented usurper every day for that. It’s not business as usual any more, I want all the bums out.
I hear your mom calling.
You aren’t awake. You are just excited to be led around nose-wise by the 24 hour news cycle and politicians who don’t actually know how to solve problems.
Listen carefully to what Republicans are saying. If you strip out the social conservatism, which has nothing to do with the economy, you will realize that the only plan they have is to ride the bad times until they self correct. That’s what all that talk of tax breaks and deregulation means. It’s everything the Republicans ALWYAS say, but this isn’t 1980. High taxes and government red tape isn’t what is holding back the economy. Taxes are low (stop rolling your eyes. Have you heard any Republicans talk about making them LOWER? No, of course not), the corporations are sitting on tons and tons of cash, and the president is doing everything but wiping Wall Street’s ass with his tongue.
The problem is consumption, and that problem is a result of the mismanagement of the economy on the part of the private sector. We The People don’t have the money to spend that we used to, thanks to the housing and credit bubbles. Washington didn’t cause that to happen (well, except by letting the wealthy run the show).
you will realize that the only plan they have is to ride the bad times until they self correct.
When you come down to it, this is the Dem plan, too–the one they proposed won’t do anything except “save” salaries of union workers. If it gets that far.
I have to take umbrage with the constant union bashing coming from the right. It is not grounded, for the most part, in a sound economic argument.
Sure, it is easy to target “Big Labor” the way the left targets “Big Business”, and unions are not innocents in the game of economic power, but remember what unions exist for: to allow otherwise powerless individual workers to have a voice in deciding their own wages and working conditions.
Now, before you go arguing for the rights of the poor employer, remember: decent pay and working conditions are facts that employers simply take for granted when it comes to themselves. The guy who owns the auto plant is very far away from the sparks and the grinding machinery. And he naturally expects the lion’s share of the profits. That’s just capitalism at it’s root. It is by no means a proper natural order, but it is more or less how it shakes out.
Unions are a great and indispensable good. They put workers on a level playing field with their bosses, who have an incredible power advantage. A great many things we take for granted in the work place are the fruits of the labor movement, even for those who aren’t in unions. It is the balancing of worker and employer power that the elites hate.
The reason Republicans target unions with such alacrity is because capital is always struggling to return labor to it’s place as a commodity, a line item that they can simply adjust to maximize profits.The job does not have a stake in the worker, but the worker sure as hell has a stake in his job.
Take your umbrage anyplace you want, Death. I used to be a union member–what I am saying is that those teachers were laid off bec they were expendable–someone else filled in the blanks by working twice as hard. I am not talking about featherbedding or no-show jobs…I am just saying school systems did without bec they didn’t have the money. Now the feds will pay a local or state employee under this type of system–the whole thing has gone out of control.
And the part about how someone out of work 6 mos can sue if they get interviewed and then don’t get the job–unintended consequence: Employers will still tend to talk to people who are in a job even though there is a tax credit attached to the other applicant. I do a daily recession blog–http://hopeycopey.blogspot.com. I talk about how common it is to exclude long-term unemployed–yet it is a fact that some fall behind on their skills…so what is an employer to do–“You don’t have a Sigma Green Belt? Gee, that would be great, but…” Bam! Lawsuit!
And your reading comprehension skills are lacking. Done with your kind, it’s like playing with a pig in mud, only the pig likes it.
Great argument. Go write a book.
I’m borrowing that line Mrs Compton!
Mrs. Compton play nice please. DR is making strong arguments here, not attacking any individual commenter.
And just where does Obama’s 81,000 pages of Regulations fit in with your explanation?
I don’t know what you are talking about there, but I doubt you are suggesting that Obama has proposed 81,000 pages of new regulations.
And as for the Kool-Aid comment, all I can say is “sigh”. I realize that this is the stand-by comment to be deployed against anyone arguing from the left, but I have had it used against me so often here in such a short period of time it really makes me weep.
Ha ha! Read the Federal Register once in a while. This administration pumps out an average of 10 new regulations per DAY. Neil Cavuto had a speed reader analyze all those regulations and it wasn’t pretty. Can you believe a regulation for farmers on disposal of lip balm? Obama and his wacko environut czars are trying to turn us back to the stone age to ‘save the planet’.
No Susan, I don’t believe it. Can you send me a link to the regulation? Or at least to a description of it?
Do your own research.
More than a million words so far on Obamacare–and they are just getting warmed up.
In other words, Susan, it is made up.
Oh death ray, you must be drinking the socialist kool-aid again. Put it down now before your brain shrinks or something.
No flaming pls marion.
If Turner actually owes his victory to Obama’s negs. He must work hard to deserve it through performance before the voters get another chance at the polls.
My suggestion: *Concentrate on plain spoken facts, people’s BS buckets are already full. *Build among the non-voters that can be educated and motivated. *Dig up and publish the unintended consequences of progressivism. Things like, while charity is often needed, but it always ends up reducing the recipent. *Encourage grassroots activities http://www.gawtp.com is a good example of how “just folks” can make a positive difference in their community. *Don’t take your supporters for granted. Be responsive, kind and truthful even if you must disagree with their position. *Above all, don’t take yourself too seriously. If you can’t laugh at you, a lot of fun is being left on the table.
I like that–a lot of fun is being left on the table.
Yay!!!!!!!
A REPUBLICAN WINS an “errection/Election” (Imus ;-) in New York City…?!!!
That Will NEVER Be “reported” by the “Media” (ABC,CBS,NBC,CNN, MSNBC etc.) tonight…
…I wished I lived in NYC so I could be NYPD :-(
My concern with the Republican Party with wins such as this is that they will become complacent and not have a true, worthwhile platform in the future.
As long as we hold their feet to the fire they won’t be complacent, MarjoJimbo. We can’t go back to being uninvolved ever again.
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