XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.politics.usa.republican   
   From: zinn@reno.us   
      
   A friend writes to say that his wife and “some of her  staunchly D” female   
   friends, all pro-choice suburbanites, are voting for Republican Lee Zeldin   
   for governor.   
      
   A former colleague working in real estate volunteers that he’s backing   
   Zeldin “because this isn’t the Democratic Party I signed up for.”   
      
   Another Dem, a former top New York official, writes: “For the first time   
   in my life, I just voted the straight Republican ticket for New York   
   state. The Democratic Party has lost touch with the people they are   
   supposed to represent.”   
      
   These are the voices of a potential earthquake.   
      
   One by one and in small groups, formerly loyal Dems are coming to the   
   conclusion that the party they were proud to belong to no longer shares   
   their interests and values.   
      
   Many cite the left’s relentless assault on convention and standards, and   
   the effort to silence disagreement. Every institution is either under   
   attack or has capitulated to the woke mob, turning liberals into   
   conservatives.   
      
   The working and middle classes in whose name this revolution is being   
   carried out are suffering the most from its excesses and now they, too,   
   demand relief. That many are voting Republican explains why a red wave is   
   forming across the nation and in even the bluest of states.   
      
   Something has to give — and it could be Kathy Hochul’s job.   
      
   On paper, the accidental governor and her party enjoy a 2-1 registration   
   edge. But when things are bad enough, reality trumps party, and it is a   
   testament to how high crime has climbed and how far the quality of life   
   has fallen that Zeldin is on the cusp of being the first Republican   
   elected governor in 20 years.   
      
   Zeldin’s campaign grit   
   He is a Long Island congressman and former state senator, but the smart   
   set considered him a long shot even after he won a contested primary in   
   June. But Zeldin has proved a dogged campaigner and outworked Hochul, who   
   foolishly allowed him to define the race while she took victory for   
   granted and hid behind routine government appearances.   
      
   In her absence, the challenger has relentlessly hammered Hochul’s tenure   
   on crime and disorder and laid out an ambitious agenda for public safety   
   that involves removing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and   
   suspending criminal-coddling bail laws.   
      
   The trend has been Zeldin’s friend, with each day bringing fresh evidence   
   that both the city and state are in a free-fall. Violent crime, combined   
   with failing schools and a suffocating tax and regulation regime, are   
   pushing record numbers of people to flee the Vampire State.   
      
   Polls have tightened, and some call the race a toss-up. One result is   
   that, while Hochul built a huge cash firewall, Zeldin is getting enough   
   financial support to be competitive on television.   
      
   Yet, truth be told, it is largely Hochul’s strange and feckless response   
   to his charges that is giving the challenger his biggest boost. Emerging   
   belatedly from the Rose Garden, she still offers no clear or forceful   
   answer to his overarching theme of danger and decline.   
      
   To this day, she continues to flirt with the ridiculous idea that crime   
   isn’t as bad as Zeldin says, which is tantamount to telling people that   
   what they see isn’t true and their fears are groundless.   
      
   She calls Republicans “manipulators” and talks of a “conspiracy” driving   
   the issue. When a Buffalo mother was killed by a man who had earlier been   
   arrested for beating her and then released, Hochul blamed “the system.”   
   Even Friday, she was telling CNN her opponent is “being dishonest.”   
      
   That’s her story and she’s sticking to it, and at this late date, we   
   should take her at her word: she doesn’t believe crime is a serious   
   problem in the city or the state.   
      
   If she did, she has had endless opportunities to say so and do something   
   about it. Instead, she acts as if she’s the victim of an unfair attack.   
      
   Woe is her.   
      
   Her mishandling of Public Enemy No. 1 raises two other features of her   
   performance. She doesn’t appear to have a great passion for the job, nor   
   does she display evidence of any special competence.   
      
   Recall that she became governor in August of 2021 when Andrew Cuomo   
   resigned after multiple sexual-harassment charges were substantiated by   
   investigators appointed by the attorney general. Until that moment, Hochul   
   was viewed as impeachment insurance, meaning Cuomo was not likely to be   
   removed because few people considered Hochul qualified for the job in her   
   own right.   
      
   But Cuomo became so toxic that concerns about Hochul’s fitness were   
   brushed aside.   
      
   Now those concerns are front and center again, and not just on crime. She   
   has proven to be no match for the Legislature, which steamrolled her on an   
   extravagantly wasteful budget and gave her almost nothing in return.   
      
   Most telling, the Dems in charge ignored appeals by her and Mayor Adams to   
   change the notorious bail laws.   
      
   Hochul’s costly deals   
      
   The one area where Hochul showed an independent streak — economic   
   development — is revealing her to be a flawed steward of taxpayers’ money.   
   Her gift of $600 million of state funds to the Buffalo Bills for a new   
   stadium was such a lopsided deal that she has tried in part to justify the   
   giveaway with the absurd claim that state taxes on high player salaries   
   would repay the cost over 20 years.   
      
   Similarly, state subsidies reportedly totaling $5.5 billion for Micron to   
   build an upstate chip factory work out to more than $600,000 per job — if   
   Micron creates 9,000 jobs over several decades. If it doesn’t, the cost   
   per job would increase.   
      
   There is also wide skepticism about her administration’s claim the deal   
   will lead to 42,000 new private jobs in the area.   
      
   It’s no wonder Hochul needs outside political help, and she will end the   
   race by appearing variously with President Biden, Vice President Kamala   
   Harris and Bill and Hillary Clinton. The fact that she has to rely on them   
   to get out the vote reveals how little enthusiasm she generates on her   
   own.   
      
   Meanwhile, her attacks on Zeldin are mostly about his pro-life position   
   and Donald Trump’s endorsement of him, along with Zeldin’s Jan. 6 vote to   
   decertify some 2020 state results.   
      
   Regarding abortion, New York law already offers far more extensive   
   protections than Roe v. Wade did. Zeldin concedes the point and is trying   
   to take the topic off the table by saying he cannot change the law and   
   won’t try.   
      
   Polling also shows that for many Dems and most independents, abortion and   
   Trump are not nearly as important as inflation, the economy, crime and   
   border security.   
      
   Because the election is likely to turn on those issues and because she has   
   such a spotty track record, voters should ask themselves this crucial   
   question: what would New York get if Hochul keeps her job?   
      
   Four more years of what she has delivered so far is not nearly good   
   enough.   
      
      
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)