Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Amazing, isn't it.<< If you put some of this stuff in a movie script, people would say that it is ridiculously over the top, Hollywood liberals making conservatives into evil caricatures, that NO politician would do such a thing. And yet, there it is, for anyone willing to open their eyes and see it for what it is. These are not conservatives. They are right wing reactionaries. They are so committed to stripping away anything of worth back to the New Deal era that they've literally embraced a scorched earth policy. They do not care about us, and the sooner people realize that, the sooner we can get the insane people out of office.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>That's 52% conservative, 48% progressive. Hardly an endorsement of Democratic policies.<< Is that from this particular race? Because if so, that's the big news. This is an extremely conservative district where a Republican has held the seat for 40 years. The seat was gerrymandered to be Republican. And even if the Republican had won, this story was written weeks ago. This was not supposed to be a close race - losing a House seat is nothing compared to the disastrous writing on the wall for Republican policies.
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^^ They've turned the steering wheel over to the Teabaggers and they are going to reap what they sow. The overwhelming majority of people DO NOT want to go back to 1900. They want Medicare and Social Security to be there when the retire, especially since very few of them will get a pension where they work.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>This was not supposed to be a close race<< Americans have watched the GOP overplay their hand recently, from union-busting moves in some states, to going after Medicare, to witholding unemployment benefits and aid to people affected by natural disasters. This is official policy for the Rush Limbaugh wingnuts, who think the Bush era was a failure because he wasn't MORE conservative. And most people think it sucks. The GOP is going to get quite the shellacking in the next election, mark my words. You can't kick people when they're down and not get a backlash for it.
Originally Posted By fkurucz People liked the Tea Party when they bitched about Welfare Queens. But the real money is in SS and Medicare, and that's what the right wingers want to get their hands on (to pay for more wars). Of course, as others have pointed out, when people realize that the right wingers are coming after THEM, then its a whole different ball game.
Originally Posted By alexbook New York's 26th District, since the last redistricting: 2011: 47% D, 43% R, 9% Tea Party, 1% Green 2010: 74% R, 26% D 2008: 55% R, 41% D, 4% Working Families Party 2006: 52% R, 48% D 2004: 56% R, 44% D 2002: 74% R, 22% D, 2% Right to Life, 2% Green Yes, the Republicans have won every time, and sometimes by blow-outs. But 52-48 for the conservatives isn't unprecedented. One way to look at this result is that Republicans had better get *more* conservative, if they don't want to face third-party challenges from the right. In close districts, that could sink them.
Originally Posted By fkurucz " You can't kick people when they're down and not get a backlash for it." I'm still stunned that they got away with filibustering a bill that would have ended tax breaks for offshoring jobs.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>One way to look at this result is that Republicans had better get *more* conservative, if they don't want to face third-party challenges from the right. In close districts, that could sink them.<< It depends on what you mean by "more conservative". If that means taking away SS and Medicare, then no, that won't win them elections on a national level. Maybe in rich eclaves it might, not not at the national level.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Yes, the Republicans have won every time, and sometimes by blow-outs. But 52-48 for the conservatives isn't unprecedented.<< But that happened when dissatisfaction with Bush was very high - 2004 and 2006. I think the stronger argument is that when Republicans go too conservative, Americans don't like it. Sure, you've got this core group of conservatives (read: nut jobs) that are tea baggers, Glenn Beck fans, etc., but for as loud and bloody obnoxious as they are, they're 20-25%. Don't get me wrong - I'm a liberal who's well aware that Americans tend to lean more right. But I really don't think people like extremism, and right now, Republicans are just that.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>It depends on what you mean by "more conservative"<< I mean the Tea Party. A lot of Tea Partiers are fed up with Republicans who talk the Tea Party line, but don't deliver once they're in office. There's a lot of talk about running candidates against insufficiently doctrinaire Republicans in next year's general election. I'd imagine a lot of Republicans are going to look at these results and conclude that they have to do anything they have to in order to keep the Tea Party happy.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I'd imagine a lot of Republicans are going to look at these results and conclude that they have to do anything they have to in order to keep the Tea Party happy.<< I hope so. It'll be really fun to watch their faces when the next election results come in. The Tea Party is a bunch of nuts. Catering to them is like catering to people who talk to streetlights.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Also, Alex, you appear to be unaware that Jack Davis, though running on the "Tea Party" line, is actually a Democrat who has previously run AS a Democrat, and the voters of this district are well aware of that (and of him). He's a wealthy guy who self-finances his runs. The Democrats have let him do that in the past, because it's such a deeply red district that it allowed them to take their expected loss without spending much if any of their own cash. This time, they had another viable candidate, so Davis had to run on a third-party line, and the Tea Party seemed to be the hip thing, after the 2010 elections. But he's NOT a tea party conservative - or a conservative at all, really - and the voters in the district know that. In fact, those two fairly close runs in 2004 and 2006 where the Democrat got 48 and 44% of the vote? Guess who the Democrat was. Yep - Jack Davis. So your math of essentially adding all his votes this time to the Republican doesn't wash.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <And just when you think the GOP can't sink any lower, they're now demanding that any aid to tornado victims be offset by budget cuts.> That won't hurt 'em in Oklahoma or Alabama much... but Obama lost MO in 2008 by just a hair. I can't imagine this move is going to endear them to a lot of Missourians.
Originally Posted By alexbook Dabob2: You're right. I was just going off the party affiliations. Sorry. I still stand by a little of what I said. I'm friends with some Tea Partiers, who are getting seriously fed up with the Republicans. There's a lot of talk of the need to challenge them.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Oh, no question true believing tea partiers THINK they need to challenge Republicans for not being ideologically pure enough. That's not going to be a formula for success in general elections, though, unless the economy remains as bad as it was in 2010 (and it's already not quite as bad). Independents, by and large, don't think well of the tea party.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox The GOP have consistently shot themselves in the foot since January. This win for the Dems comes as no surprise. Republicans have been overreaching, big time. The "Killing Medicare" provision of Paul Ryan's budget set the stage. Now add in refusal to extend unemployment benefits, continuation of tax cuts for corporations offshoring jobs, continuation of tax cuts and subsidies for Big Oil while gas prices soared over $4/gallon, topped off this weekend with gasbag Eric Cantor refusing to send aid to tornado disaster areas without demanding additional spending cuts FIRST. Seriously... what planet do these sociopaths live on? All of this stuff -- SSA, Medicare, unemployment benefits, gas prices, disaster relief -- is third rail. Untouchable. Yet these sociopaths went after the third rail, believing themselves invincible because of Nov 2010. I can't wait for the elections next year. The Republicans are going to finally get what's been coming to them since Reaganomics started this whole ugly mess.
Originally Posted By Longhorn12 >true believing tea partiers THINK they need to challenge Republicans for not being ideologically pure enough< Mostly white... Hate minorities... Complain that people aren't ideologically pure enough... I swear I've read this story line before.
Originally Posted By BPSJP >>One more - republicans are practically wetting themselves over Netenyahu's speech to congress yesterday. He essentially flipped his middle finger to the US, and they're standing and cheering him on. This, after he gave the president a pedantic lecture - in the white house.<< No he was giving Obama the middle finger. Israel will not commit suicide so pro Muslim, anti-Jewish Obama can make his Muslim brothers happy. Even left wing Democratic leader Harry Reid said about Obama's attack on Israel. Criticism continues flaring from both sides of the aisle over President Barack Obama's position that a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict begins with pre-1967 borders. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., drew a standing ovation Monday night for a speech that, according to Politico, "publicly rejected President Barack Obama's decision to use a recent speech to lay out aspects of a potential peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians." Never again Mr Obama! <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/mobile/article/700138603/Harry-Reid-Rob-Bishop-criticize-President-Obama-on-Israel.html" target="_blank">http://www.deseretnews.com/mob...ael.html</a>
Originally Posted By andyll <<Let's see: 47% Democrat, 43% Republican, 9% Tea Party, 1% Green. That's 52% conservative, 48% progressive. Hardly an endorsement of Democratic policies.>> The teap-partier was anti-business and has run as a democrate before. 1/3 of those voting for him said they would have voted for the democrat otherwise. But so what? There will be plenty of tea partiers splitting the vote in 2012 also.
Originally Posted By BPSJP >>There will be plenty of tea partiers splitting the vote in 2012 also.<< I agree, there will be many democrats playing tea party patriots to split the vote, so liberals can win. Democrats will do anything to win, so wimpy republicans better be on their game.
