In The Hands Of The American People

A platform that consists of a “planned” defeat in Iraq, increased taxes and we hate President Bush, in retrospect, may not be as appealing as Democrat Party leaders had hoped. Here’s what the liberal pundits from the New Republic have to say on election eve polls:

John Judis and I have been e-mailing about the alarming Pew poll that came out today. It reflects the same trends captured by that earlier Washington Post/ABC poll, except that the trends are, gulp, even more pronounced. Worse, the folks at Pew have graciously posted their cross-tabs, which makes it nearly impossible to rationalize the lousy results. As John points out, the fact that Democrats' 15-point advantage among white women last month has turned into a 2-point disadvantage today is incredibly ominous. Unfortunately, it's not quite as ominous as the erosion in the Democrats' advantage among Northeasterners: from 26 points to 9. The Northeast is, of course, a region where Democrats are banking on roughly half a dozen pick-ups. That kind of dropoff isn't going to get the job done.

Are the polls right or wrong? Who knows, but we do know this:

The economy: Most Americans want a strong and growing economy. The country has produced 19 consecutive quarters of economic growth since the “Bush tax cuts” were enacted. The nation’s unemployment rate is low at 4.4 percent, federal tax revenues are at record levels, the budget deficit has been cut in half since the recession of 2001 and every taxpayer has received federal tax relief. In New Jersey the average federal tax cut has been between $1,700 and $4,800.

Iraq: Most Americans want the country to win the war on terrorism. A premature withdraw from Iraq is a defeat for the United States and a win for Islamofascist terrorists. Iran and Osama bin Laden’s followers would be emboldened. North Korea would rightly see our retreat as a sign of weakness to be exploited with nuclear blackmail.

“Redeployment” would leave Iraqis with little chance of developing a democratic country and would almost certainly condemn them to a future similar to Afghanistan under the Taliban and Iran under Ahmadinejad. Providing a safe haven for terrorists to plot and prepare attacks against the United States and our allies clearly would not make the U.S. or the world a safer place.

As for the troops, they recognize the importance of their mission in Iraq and want to finish the job. Soldiers in Iraq Say Pullout Would Have Devastating Results according to today’s Washington Post.

Endorsements:

Tom Kean for U.S. Senate
Frank LoBiondo for U.S. Congress: Congressional District 2
Jim Saxton for U.S. Congress: Congressional District 3
Chris Smith for U.S. Congress: Congressional District 4
Scott Garrett for U.S. Congress: Congressional District 5
Leigh-Ann Bellew for U.S. Congress: Congressional District 6
Mike Ferguson for U.S. Congress: Congressional District 7
Jose Sandoval for U.S. Congress: Congressional District 8
Vincent Micco for U.S. Congress: Congressional District 9
Rodney Frelinghuysen for U.S. Congress: Congressional District 11
Joe Sinagra for U.S. Congress: Congressional District 12