The political shenanigans behind the "Lugar can't vote here" decision:
Looks like the two Democrats on the county election board saw a chance to toss a stinkbomb of bad PR at a moment when there’s a real chance he might be bumped off in a Republican primary. His opponent, Richard Mourdock, has already been endorsed by the Club for Growth, the NRA, and various tea-party groups and prominent sympathizers. The Democrats probably calculated that they’ve got a better shot at the seat against Mourdock than the eternal incumbent with 100 percent name recognition so they ginned up a tasty talking point about an establishment pol who’s been inside the Beltway for so long that he’s literally gone native. Tea partiers will feast on it, which may be the extra boost Mourdock needs.
"Gone native" -- good way to put it, huh?
This is makes-my-head-spin deviousness, but I wonder about the Democrats' calculation here, if that's what it is. If Mourdock wins, that means a majority of Hoosier Republicans buy into the stop-the-spending-madness of the tea party. Do Democrats think a majority of Hoosiers want to continue the status quo of big government?
Consider this, from pollster Scott Rasmussen:
One of the fundamental gaps between the American people and their elected politicians can be found in perceptions of the relationship between economic growth, job creation and government spending.
In official Washington, Keynesian economics still rules, and it is simply accepted as fact that cutting government spending will hurt the economy. Politicians also assume that increasing government spending and growing deficits will lead to job creation.
However, among the voting public, such notions make about as much sense as the world Alice stumbled into when she went through the looking glass. Most voters (55 percent) believe that cutting government spending is good for the economy. Only 25 percent share the view of official Washington and believe spending cuts hurt the economy. Just 11 percent think larger deficits will lead to good economic news. These numbers have changed little since I first began asking the questions in the mid-1990s.
