The weakening of the Red Wave

Purely Political, By James Buckley 

There really was a Red Wave.

It made its presence known in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis and fellow Republican office seekers romped over Democrats of all colors.

You could feel it, taste it, sense it. Voters throughout the country were moving away from lockdown, masked-up, school-closing, no-drilling Democrats toward Republicans and their ideas. The last two weeks of this midterm election were almost as much fun as the 2016 surprise of Donald Trump’s election. Everything — and I mean everything — was moving Republicans’ way. If only there were two weeks less or two weeks longer.

We needed, in other words, a shorter election.

But Democrats outsmarted Republicans again, just as they had in 2020. And with the same tactics. While Republicans were busy getting to know its candidates, especially the new dynamic ones such as Kari Lake and Blake Masters in Arizona, Lee Zeldin in New York, and many others, Democrats had already set up their voter registration booths and election centers in every college and university, public housing development, in every mall that would allow it (and virtually all did). Democrats were ready, set, go, on the very first day of extended voting in every state that had adopted the longer voting schedule.

It was a race all right, but Republicans were still lacing up their running shoes while Democrats were taking a break at the half-way mark.

Republicans let themselves get giddy as the polls began to tighten two weeks from “Election Day.” They were convinced that this Red Wave would crash ashore and wash over everything in its wake.

That Red Wave did come in with the tide just as predicted.

However …

Millions of votes had already been harvested weeks earlier, especially from battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, even Wisconsin.

Democrats were ready for a Red Wave, even a really big one.

Republicans were not.

The sluggish response by Republican “leaders” in reaction to a repeat of the highly successful Democrat machinations of the 2020 election is hugely responsible for the failure of the Red Wave to produce a meaningful change in the makeup of Congress.

You can see this from the results in the state of New York, where four House seats flipped from Democrat to Republican (blue to red). New York is a state that Democrats figured they had safely in the bag, so they let their guard down or ignored piling up that massive early vote they are so good at. Without those four New York seats and the three Florida flips, the House of Representatives would have remained in Democrat hands.

But, after predicting greater gains than occurred, I must admit I was wrong.

I wrote that on Wednesday morning, the day after the election, Republicans would end up holding as much as a 54-46 edge in the U.S. Senate because: Mr. Laxalt would take out Ms. Cortez Masto in Nevada (he still may); Mr. Walker would oust Mr. Warnock in Georgia (maybe, but not until a Dec. 6 run-off); Johnson would hold his seat in Wisconsin (he did); Mr. Budd would eke out a victory in North Carolina (he did); Dr. Oz would win over Mr. Fetterman (he didn’t); Mr. Masters would beat Sen. Kelly in Arizona (he still may), and J.D. Vance would prevail in Ohio (he did).

I predicted that Democratic incumbent Sen. Hassan would squeak by Gen. Bolduc in New Hampshire (she did). I also wrote that Ms. Smiley had a “fighting chance to overtake” incumbent Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, in the state of Washington. Ms. Smiley did better than any Republican had in many years, but it wasn’t enough. 

If Sen. Walker wins the Georgia run-off, Republicans will (hopefully) still end up with a 51-49 edge

However, I did suggest that if Republicans didn’t do as well as predicted (they didn’t), and we ended up with a 50/50 Senate (we might), I would have to prepare my bowl of Crow Stew.

I’m no cook (though I’m pretty good with eggs), so I had to go online to figure out first how to pluck the feathers out of a bird. Luckily, I came upon the Family Farm Livestock website, hosted by a friendly animal-loving farmer named Kathy whose advice included “How to Pluck Chickens Without a Plucker!” 

A “plucker,” I learned, is a small tool ($31.99 on Amazon) that “grabs” feathers out of a scalded carcass. I had no such thing, and Kathy informed me that pluckers were on back order and not readily available but that hand plucking was “simple, easy to learn and faster than you think!”

“To pluck a (crow) by hand,” she advises, “repeatedly dunk and swish the bled-out bird in a 5-gallon bucket of hot water (160 degrees) for 1 minute to scald.”

I was advised elsewhere to take the scalded carcass to a table and to start plucking with the longer wing feathers since they are the hardest to pluck. Oh, and to wear an apron because plucking is “a messy, wet business.”

My Crow Stew four-hour recipe features wild onions, ash, lemon juice, garlic, and flour.

I’ll let you know how it tastes.

James Buckley is a longtime Montecito resident. He welcomes questions or comments at jimb@substack.com. Readers are invited to visit jimb.substack.com, where Jim’s Journals are on file. He also invites people to subscribe to Jim’s Journal.