Jon Reisman
October has brought both anticipation and anxiety.
The upcoming midterms have brought Maine’s political hackery (here’s looking at you, Troy) and media bias malpractice (names redacted to protect the guilty) into uncomfortably sharp and obvious focus. As an allegedly recovering political hack and practicing pundit, I have struggled to objectively analyze the likely outcomes and consequences of these elections, trying to balance facts and fear.
The first Senate and gubernatorial debates provided plenty of both, and mid-October brought a Maine weather political metaphor — a mixture of soothing fall foliage, cool sunny mornings, badly needed showers, blustery winds, political rhetoric, and even some loud and destructive hail. Some analysis, observations, and hopes:
● The Senate Race. Six months ago, I believed Maine’s left would happily nominate and promote a dangerously slick and articulate Totenkopf-tattoed antisemitic socialist to run against Susan Collins. I had a Maine Kampf/Heil Platner sign up in June. The socialism and antisemitism were strongly endorsed by Maine’s Democratic voters. Credible accusations of sexual assault from a Republican woman were insufficient to disqualify Platner, but once the accuser was blue instead of red, the media and left engineered Platner’s ouster and replacement.
The slick, articulate, and authentic antisemitic socialist was replaced with an inarticulate, inauthentic antisemitic socialist hack. I hope Maine voters have retained enough good sense to send Troy packing, but I remain convinced and fearful that a significant fraction of my Democrat neighbors would happily follow Troy and their fellow antisemites on an ethnic cleansing pogrom (also known as genocide) from the river to the sea. In this case, it’s not the Jordan, but the Presumpscot, Kennebec, Penobscot, St. Croix, and Dennys.
That difficult and troubling conclusion is the unfortunate legacy of this election. I won’t forget my neighbors who proudly backed Platner. When the jihadis shout “Death to America,” “Death to Israel,” and “Globalize the Intifada,” I choose to believe what the antisemitic leftists are openly saying. Call it Jewish overreaction if you want — when socialist antisemites say they want to kill you, I tend to believe them. If Susan loses and the Senate goes Democratic and antisemitic, the transformation that Barack Obama and the left seek will be advanced. Kristallnacht in Calais might be a stretch, but not in leftist strongholds in Camden and Cumberland County.
● The Gubernatorial Race. If the polls are to be believed (and there are plenty of reasons not to), Mainers are going to send Hannah Pingree to the Blaine House, continuing the disastrous
Democratic policy malpractice of the Mills/Pingree administration. Hannah will continue the Mills legacy of expensive and fraudulent energy, climate, education, and health care policies damaging our children and future. The split between blue CD1 and red/purple CD2 will be very clear, even if the legacy media downplays or ignores it. Bobby Charles will win the 2nd CD, and Hannah will win the 1st.
The differences in margin and turnout will determine the overall winner. Senator King endorsed Hannah. For some reason, few if any members of the legacy media recalled his previous endorsement in 2010 and 2014 of Eliot Cutler. I can’t imagine why.
● The House Races. Chellie Pingree will continue her leftist rule over the 1st CD, with the fervent consent of the affluent leftist rabble she and the Maine People’s Alliance represent. Paul LePage will defeat “moderate” Democratic hack Matt Dunlap. LePage’s victory will be somewhat Pyrrhic. LePage will speak and advocate for aggrieved rural Mainers, but he will almost certainly be in the minority, as the socialist antisemites take control of the House. Representative LePage will have to watch his blood pressure if he and the 2nd CD are to survive.
● The Legislature. The top of the ticket races for Congress and the Blaine House are important for setting tone, agenda, and leadership, but the local races for the Maine House and Senate are critical.
If the Democrats retain their legislative majorities and return Shenna Bellows to mismanage our elections as Secretary of State, and Aaron Frey to mismanage justice as Attorney General, Maine’s slide towards socialist dysfunction will accelerate and become even less likely to be reversed. I’ll proudly support Billy Bob Faulkingham and Will Tuell. I hope they will find themselves part of a narrow majority, but I fear minority status, continued Democrat only majority budgets, and 2nd CD abuse by our affluent 1st CD betters is in the offing.
Jon Reisman is an economist and policy analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38 years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Statler and Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own, and he welcomes comments as letters to the editor here or to him directly via email at jreisman@maine.edu.
