The headlines said it all: the midterm elections were over before they had even begun. The Democrats had already won!
Democrats Expected to Win
World News Network
WASHINGTON, D.C. - For a combination of reasons increasingly bullish prognostications by pollsters promise a Democratic blowout. Democrats are expected to take the House by a significant margin and the Senate is too close to call.
There was good reason for the media’s optimism; the past six years had been spent deriding the Republicans on every issue fathomable. By early morning, the day following the national election, Democrats had picked up more than two dozen Republican-held House seats without losing any of their own, putting Minority Leader Patricia Bocchino (D-Massachusetts) into the position of becoming the nation's first female speaker.
Democrats Take House!
American News
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Democrats recaptured the House last night defeating Republican incumbents in every region of the nation and are close to gaining control of the Senate in elections dominated by war, scandal and President McKinley's faltering leadership.
Two days after the midterm elections, the press’ efforts to demonize a sitting Republican Senator had paid off.
Burton Concedes, Dems Win Control Over Senate
World Tribune
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Democrat Jim Deane, who campaigned for Virginia's U.S. Senate seat by opposing the war in Iraq and calling for economic fairness, yesterday succeeded in his improbable bid to unseat Republican Senator Robert Burton, giving the Democrats a sixty-seat majority and domination of both houses of Congress.
Two weeks following the elections, the committee hearings surrounding the Subprime Mortgage Crisis continued up on The Hill. The debacle presented the Democrats with untold possibilities once they took the reins over Congress in mid-January. It was not a question of if the financial catastrophe would occur, it was only a question of when. True, the looming crisis was of their own party’s making, but that did not matter, not once they seized control up on The Hill. The Democrat Party would seize upon this crisis, as they had many times before, and use the debacle to their political advantage. With the press entirely in the Democrat’s pocket, the party would succeed in creating an alternative reality of events, and thus, rewrite history in the minds of most.
Republican President William W. McKinley’s endeavors to avert the crisis had not been carried out forcefully enough; the moderates in his party caved in to the Democrats’ stalling tactics just after the press began turning up the heat. The blame for the financial meltdown would be laid at McKinley’s feet; the outgoing President would go down as the cause of the second greatest depression in American history. McKinley would leave a future Democrat President an “out” for any miscarriage his, or her, policies would create...it was a perfect storm...just waiting to break.
Today’s hearing by the Financial Services Committee involved one of the men responsible for the looming crisis, Democrat presidential appointee: Director Jose Rivera. Rivera and his cronies had done everything possible to hide the state of affairs; he now sat in front of the committee saying little, knowing the problem was too big to hide. Due to the upcoming debacle, it was now up to his party and the media to keep the truth hidden, to defend the indefensible. When Rivera’s party took control over Congress, the bureaucrat knew he would then be completely off the hook, as the condemnation would drop on someone else’s shoulders.
The Democrats were perfectly aware they could not make hay on any of the issues that would certainly come up in today’s hearings, the truth surrounding the financial meltdown would get in the way. The Democrats recognized it was their party’s former President Gerald Evenson who got the whole ball rolling, forcing the mortgage banking industry into accepting notes from what were in essence his party’s voters. The financial problems were just beginning to show up in record numbers of defaults and foreclosures. The real-estate bubble Evenson created was just about to go bust. More than three trillion dollars of worthless mortgages sat on the balance sheets of the twin, government-backed lending institutions: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It would ultimately be up to the taxpayers to make up for the losses; the Subprime Mortgage Crisis represented the single largest transfer of wealth to date. Little did anyone realize their hardships were just beginning.
The party playbook when faced with indefensible situations was to turn to the tactics laid out by Saul Alinsky in his Rules for Radicals. In this case, the Democrat politicians employed Rule Number 2: Ridicule. Name-calling, demonization, ostracism and shouts of racism, anything to distract from the real issues, anything the press could use to distract the public. There was no defense to the slanderous remarks in view of the fact they were based upon entirely irrational behavior. Alinsky’s maxims had become a key part of the Democrat Party playbook. The sad thing was, the communist had been right; it worked. The Republicans had no response, unless they too embraced the same cheap expedient, but then again that would require a media that was on their side.
Vermont Representative, Jefferson Farbstein, speaking more to a few reporters seated in the audience than to the issue, had these words to say as the ranking Committee Democrat with his New England lisp.
“Fannie Mae and Fweddie Mac are not facing a financial cwisis and the more the Wepubwicans exaggewate that lie, the mowe they’we huwting those Amewicans who desewve a home. It’s going to huwt the countwy's minowities who desewve affowdabwe housing.''
The second highest-ranking Democrat, New York Representative Joseph Jones, now thought the time appropriate to jump on Farbstein’s bandwagon with his Harlem dialect.
''I agree wid the Congressman! It’s discriminashun! Ah tell ya’ it’s racist! You's’re talking about takin' away sump'n poo' families deserve and dat’s an affo'dable place to live!”
The Chairperson had witnessed these hearings descend into utter chaos before on numerous occasions and attempted to stop the madness by pounding his gavel. This had little effect on Jones who responded by raising his voice over that of the Chairman.
“Dis is a witch hunt and ya're all racists!” Jones shouted.
The Chair responded, “Representative Jones, if you do not stop your outburst I will be forced to have you...”
Now, California Legislator Dabreesha Duvall saw her opportunity to join the spectacle with her own version of histrionics.
The din of the banging gavel could be heard as other Democrats joined the fray. One only had to look at the pages sitting behind the Democrats to understand this was nothing but a contrived event. The pages’ smiles, chuckling, laughter said it all and these lunatics would soon be running Congress.
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CAYMAN ISLANDS - Victor took the vibrating phone from his sweater pocket and looked to see the incoming call.
"Go ahead, Ingrid,” Jack said to his secretary.
"Dr. Magnason, Mr. Newman has had me looking into someone who might help your efforts in Washington.”
“Go ahead.”
“Mr. Newman thinks he’s found the person, former Republican Senator Robert Burton. The Senator served in the Senate the past several decades. Senator Burton’s background and connections on several key committees are believed by Mr. Newman to be of utmost importance. The Senator is going to be a keynote speaker at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) next month. Jack would like for you to accompany him to the event to meet Senator Burton.”
During election season most journalists dropped everything except political coverage; it was their official hunting season. The press were all out to find that next award-winning story, that next Watergate and for most this meant spending long hours on someone’s campaign trail, some moderate, or Republican politician they might ruin. They always had one objective: to get that one photograph, that one verbal slip, that one video clip that would prevent his or her chances of winning an election.
Senator Burton was one of their victims. Plagued by dozens of repo
rters throughout his campaign, one journalist in particular had become so annoying with his line of questioning the Senator’s handlers tried to get him thrown out of the Press Corps. The technique the reporter was using was one taught in hundreds of journalism schools across America: simply wear down your opponent with continuous, repetitive, provocative questioning. The modus operandi worked best in the closing moments of a busy day when the politician was leaving the stage and thought the pressure of the public appearance was all over and his guard was down.
The WNN reporter used the same line of questioning for the past three weeks, but was thwarted by the Senator’s savvy political handlers until one late afternoon when the Senator’s primary advisor was missing from the Senator’s side.
“Senator, what is your position on Abu Ghraib? Do you think the administration should also be included in charges of torture?” the reporter pestered.
The video had shown the Senator ignored the question. The reporter rephrased the question more provocatively. “Why won’t you answer the question? Do you approve of torturing helpless victims?”
Senator Burton replied heatedly, “Look, your question is absurd. A few bad eggs guarding prisoners in Iraq warrants an investigation...not impeachment. How can you stand there and ask the same damn, stupid questions? Are you really that ignorant, or are you just some sort of Democrat operative?”
Most of the audience applauded the Senator’s response, obviously seeing his actions as justified. The problem was that from that point on, WNN controlled what the public saw and heard of the encounter and news diva Deena Crawford had worked her magic upon the Virginia voters. For the next months leading up to the election, the Senator continually lost ground under her assaults. The insistent reporter was rewarded by his peers with the ‘Pulitzer Prize for Public Service’ and Senator Robert Burton was now living a quiet life outside the spotlight of politics.
“Can I have someone make arrangements for you to attend, Dr. Magnason?”
The CEO thought for a moment about his condition, how he might appear in public; his medication would fix things temporarily, long enough to weather the event.
“Where is CPAC being held, Ingrid?”
“Washington.”
“Anything else Jack wanted to add?”
“No, Dr. Magnason, that’s everything.”
“Okay Ingrid, make the arrangements. Contact my secretary with the details.”
“So Ingrid, how’s your granddaughter doing in school? Stephanie, isn’t it?”
“Thank you for asking, Stephanie is doing really well. Her mother tells me she made honor roll this last semester.”
“That is good to hear and really no surprise, a regular chip off the ole block.”
Ingrid laughed, then in a more serious tone asked, “How are you holding up, Dr. Magnason?”
Victor was not surprised Jack would tell some of his closest staff about his condition. Word would get out soon enough.
“Thank you Ingrid, I’m doing fine.”
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