KENNEY: A Very Republican WSJ Christmas Poll
A new WSJ poll shows Biden approval ratings at near-humbug levels, Trump's lead increasing to 6 points, and Virginia creeping back into battleground territory.
by SHAUN KENNEY
Columnist (and Secret Santa-in-Training)
First and foremost, I want you to consider going the extra mile for a kid whose only hope for a Christmas this year is you.
Stafford Junction is looking for just 64 — actually, 63 because I’m in! — Secret Santas willing to give someone’s Christmas a bit more sparkle this year.
Your gift is the difference between Christmas wonder or wondering why Santa never came this season:
Maybe it is a $50 donation for Christmas dinner?
Maybe it is $50 to buy some great presents?
Maybe you have just a few dollars to help?
OR… maybe you have enough to help make an entire family’s Christmas one to remember for a long time!
JOIN ME by CLICKING HERE and help be the sparkle in a young person’s eye this Christmas.
If you join me, that will mean we are just 62 people away (make that 61 - our Editor-in-Chief just joined!) from meeting Gail’s goal over at Stafford Junction — and they are doing tremendous work for deserving kids in the Fredericksburg area.
Just CLICK HERE to share a little Christmas.
The best part about Christmas isn’t the gifts or the commercialism or the stuff. We see the “Reason for the Season” signs all over the place, but Christmas should serve as a reminder that we might be the only Christ someone sees that day.
Or in this instance, the only Christmas these little ones might feel.
Of course — THANK YOU for being someone’s Santa this season.
Your heartfelt gift means more to these kids than we could ever possibly know. If you’ve been there yourself, then you know ten times over what this means. So from me to you and with every bit of respect and appreciation — thank you.
WSJ: Trump 37, Biden 31, Kennedy 8
This week’s poll from the Wall Street Journal has Biden back at his historic lows, with approval ratings at 37% and showing him behind former President Donald J. Trump by a widening gap of 6 points.
An admixture of third-party candidates takes a whopping 17% — a total not really seen since Perot ‘92 — with former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. taking a notable 8% of the total. 14% of the electorate remains undecided.
The number that is crushing Biden right now is the economy:
Only 23% of voters say Biden’s policies have helped them personally, while 53% say they have been hurt by the president’s agenda. By contrast, about half of voters say Trump’s policies when he was president helped them personally, more than the 37% who say they were hurt.
The number that is hurting Bident and the Democrats writ large at present is the number 24 — meaning the 24% of Democrats who label themselves as disaffected by Biden’s policies, mostly black and Hispanic voters.
Some additional factors? Despite Democratic concerns about “the end of democracy” and Trump’s trolling on Day 1 authoritarianism, much of the rhetoric is not moving the needle on either Biden or Trump.
What is moving the needle? Immigration, inflation, and the state of the economy.
For the Democrats, there is one issue where there is a wedge of light in an otherwise gloomy poll. On abortion, voters go to Biden by a margin of 11 points. Yet abortion alone isn’t enough to accomplish two things: (1) keep the Biden coalition together in any meaningful form, and (2) overcome concerns regarding immigration, inflation, and the economy.
Of course, times change.
In 2012, Romney was over Obama. In 2016, Hillary had the inside track against Trump. Ten months is a lifetime in politics, and many of the disaffected Democrats could come back home to Biden when the choices are made stark and clear.
Do Biden’s No-Good Terrible Numbers Put Virginia in Play in 2024?
Maybe.
Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) is perhaps the weaker of the two Virginia Democrats representing the Commonwealth, though by no means a pushover. With over $7 million cash on hand as of the last reporting quarter, Kaine’s war chest combined with Virginia’s demographics should give any candidate pause after Trump’s drubbing in 2016 and 2020 respectively.
While Trump underperformed Mitt Romney’s 2012 performance, Trump made up the difference in 2020, earning 1.9 million votes in Virginia — nearly touching Hillary Clinton’s 2016 performance. There was just one problem with the math — Joe Biden nabbed a historic 2.4 million votes with 54% of the vote.
In 2021, Glenn Youngkin captured the Governor’s Mansion with 1.66 million votes compared to Terry McAuliffe’s 1.59 million.
Virginia’s 2022 proved to be a mixed bag for Republicans as the Dobbs decision overwhelmed what should have been a down year for the White House. Then, 2023 saw a return to hardened lines, but with Republicans adding votes statewide in a calculated push to make 2024 and 2025 hotly contested.
So should Kaine be worried? That depends. At present, there are no fewer than 10 Republicans vying for the nod, most notable among them Eddie Garcia, former VA-10 candidate Hung Cao, and former DeSantis chief of staff Scott Parkinson among many others.
Virginia Republicans would have to field a candidate which would be acceptable to both the Youngkin wings of the party as well as the Trump faction — a difficult task indeed. Former Governors such as George Allen and Jim Gilmore come to mind, yet it is difficult to find that unifying figure among Virginia Republicans today.
Then there is the omnipresent Trump factor. If there is a galvanizing figure among Democrats, it is Trump. Leftists love to label the man Cheeto Jesus (TM), but in Virginia his candidacy is more of a godsend to Democrats than Republicans. Simply put, the man is just hated.
Virginia in the Vanguard (Again)
The real question for Virginians is whether Biden’s abysmally low numbers will put the perennial three seats in play: VA-02 in Virginia Beach, VA-10 in Loudoun, and VA-07 in Prince William and Fredericksburg.
The poll serves as a reminder to giddy Democrats still breathing sighs of relief as redistricting saved their bacon in 2023. There is a wider world out there placing their policies in the balance and finding them wanting. Tired of a bad economy, tired of cancel culture, and tired of American prestige being squandered in places such as Afghanistan and Ukraine, most Americans will put up with a few bad tweets for a return to $1.99/gal gasoline and reasonable food prices.
James Carville — the renown Democratic strategist — used to remind Clintonistas that it was the economy, stupid.
Meanwhile, Democrats continue to cancel the Cassandras (yes, a reference to antiquity) at their peril. At some point in time, their neighbors figure out that they aren’t alone. They get a vote as well.
Angry about it? Prove it. . . by donating some gifts this Christmas by CLICKING BELOW.
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It's a Christmas miracle Tiny Tim!
Mr Kenney wrote an article, and it's mostly coherent!
God bless us, everyone!
(Picture your most heart rendering waif here.)
Interesting though. It's been proposed that Tiny Tim was suffering from rickets. A common disease at the time, mostly curable by improved diet.
So while it makes a good tale (and better movie - personally liked Bill Murray's Scrooged version most of all) it brings up an interesting point.
Is it better to have the crisis so that someone like Mr Kenney can feel better by "solving" it with his heartfelt and sincere pleas for charity, there by earning themselves brownie points in Heaven as well as the dopamine release concurrent with their "good" deeds here, while the underlying cause still remains?
With him deciding what and if he will give? How much? When? And who is deserving?
To a certain extent - yes - it's his money.
Though if you're looking at it from a Christian viewpoint, one could argue if this is indeed the best strategy.
Mr Kenney appears to enjoy an older English, with his oft quoted Shakespearean references. I enjoy a little later period, the 17th century, when this little gem was published.
Matthew 6, KJV:
6:2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Beautiful prose, that.
Back home, we used to have a charity that gave meals to the hungry. But you couldn't get the meal without the preaching. Why the quid pro quo? If you're wanting to feed the hungry, just feed the hungry.
But back to the original question.
Is it better to have a crisis so someone like Mr Kenney can make a grand public gesture of "helping" or is it better to work toward eliminating and minimizing the need in the 1st place?
I would argue the latter has a more meaningful impact.
Life expectancy in the US is 78.9. Tied with Lebanon, just a hair better than Cuba.
38th place.
This despite spending by far the most money per capita (over $12.5k/year - nearest competitor Switzerland at $8k).
Lebanon? $1k - who's getting better value? Cuba spends $1.2k.
Similar statistics abound for things like child mortality, healthcare, housing, etc.
WE can do better. We should do better.
As a society.
We are not reinventing the wheel. Creating cold fusion. Or opening a station on Mars.
Merely cheerfully plagiarizing ideas that work from people who won't mind a bit us using them.
Like socialized medicine.
Support for childcare not based on someone insincerely bowing to someone else's god, but a society recognizing that it is in it's best interest to meaningfully and systematically provide support for the needs of our developing citizens and their care givers.
Hillary was right.
It does take a village.
It shouldn't take beggars. Investing in our citizens is investing in our future. Systematically.
How, you say?
Well, how about this?
Governor Youngkin made another grand gesture of making sure that every taxpayer got $200 of the windfall the state got from the federal government in Covid funds (which was put on a credit card, btw). The distribution was not need based, just free money for everyone.
So now, if someone wants to take $100 of that found money that they don't need, because they were rich before they ever got it due to benefits that those who own stocks and corporations get - that the waitress working for tips does not enjoy because in America, we believe in the golden rule (in that he that has the gold, writes the rules) - they can grandly click Mr Kenney's little button and consider problem solved.
They did their part. Right?
Wouldn't it have been better to provide more money to those raising our children who made under the $150k/year? Maybe expect folks like Trump, Bezos, and Buffett to contribute the same 12.4% of their wages toward SS as the guy working at McDonald's and his employer pay. Why not?
Yet meanwhile, wealth inequality worsens every year (until ironically - recently when funds started going more toward the everyday workers rather than stock owners due to the policies that Mr Kenney and the WSJ are complaining about - all it took was a pandemic, much as occurred during the Black Plague (read Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror for more details)).
We are becoming every year more of a poor country with hyperrich people becoming ever more unequal. Which we tolerate, because it keeps getting put on a credit card and pushed down the road so we don't see it.
One day, we will. Or our children will.
Moody's just downgraded our credit rating this year thanks to Republican grandstanding that will end up costing us billions in interest rates. Imagine how much good that money could have done.
Math is like that.
So by all means, give to your favorite charity. Unfortunately, the need is there. Much worse than it should be.
Do so as part of a grand parade, trumpeted as Mr Kenney and others are so fond. Maybe you can get on TV! Film at 11.
Or do so quietly, as Matthew states. Maybe he would have seen it differently if he only knew about reality TV, but maybe not. (now I'll be humming JC, Superstar tunes for the rest of the day).
Still, there are many worthy charities. My favorite has always been the Salvation Army, just based on the amount of money that actually goes to help people, and the genuine sincerity of their staff.
This Stafford Crossing organization seems to also be one of the good ones. Please give as you see fit.
But I say a more meaningful gesture would be to support policies and people looking to do better.
That does not mean voting Republican. We've tried that.
If you're rich - it works.
If you're middle class - it's working okay right now, but one day, the bill's coming due - and that 1% will have their 30% of the wealth in the Bahamas. The remaining 90-99% will be transferring theirs there as fast as they can.
As the rest of us fight over the scraps, and are left holding the bill. A modern day Hunger Games, all dependent upon whether a Kardashian or Kenney gives their blessing and attention.
May the odds ever be in your favor!
And putting someone who specializes in fraud and bankruptcy in charge again would not be a good idea under such circumstances even if he weren't a court found sexual deviant charged with over 90 felonies. Despite Mr Kenney and the WSJ's apparent fondness for him or acceptance of him.
Merry Christmas.
BTW- you do know that no one actually knows when Christ was born, right?
A made up holiday to replace pagan holidays like Saturnalia at the solstice. Good marketing, not necessarily a holy command.
Still, it's the thought that counts, and it is fun to watch the children's faces light up so, enjoy - but realize pretending is fun - but reality matters.
The children huddled in bunkers in Gaza and Ukraine are good children too. And there will be a lot more unnecessarily hungry, fearful, and cold kids in America this Christmas than there should be. Yes these children Mr Kenney wishes to help are deserving. Please help. A better help would be working so that next year, there are fewer of them. We can do it.
Choose wisely, not loudly, not proudly, not thoughtlessly.
Because if Scrooge had been paying a living wage in the 1st place; Tiny Tim would probably never needed crutches.
We can do better.
Until then, Peace.