What Election night tells us about the party directions, and the November election

[Wei Wu Wei]

HOW DARE YOU!:mad: You've got nerve compromising wee wee's narrative with FACTS!!!!11!!!!!













;)

Please pull up a high chair and join the discussion.

[PoliCon]

How so?

In the few years the Republicans almost always get every single member to vote along with the party. The Democrats have been the party with more groups represented and with more directions being pulled at once. Even with huge majorities in congress they could not get all in line.

How does this translate to the Republicans being reformable while the Democrats are not reformable?

Were you awake at all during the last 15 years? The GOP may have had majorities in congress during the bush years - but they did not vote lock step.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Were you awake at all during the last 15 years? The GOP may have had majorities in congress during the bush years - but they did not vote lock step.

They didn't have to. The majorities they had, along with the Republican in the white house allowed them more flexibility for the more vulnerable districts.

[PoliCon]

Please pull up a high chair and join the discussion.

What discussion? You're assertions have been shot down repeatedly and still you cling to them. There is no discussing with an avowed leftist. Y'all are incapable of accepting anything that deviates from your narrative.

[PoliCon]

They didn't have to. The majorities they had, along with the Republican in the white house allowed them more flexibility for the more vulnerable districts.

Reality is - that during the Bush years - we saw the highest level of bipartisanship in Congress in decades - but the left still clung to their narrative that the GOP acted unilaterally.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Reality is - that during the Bush years - we saw the highest level of bipartisanship in Congress in decades - but the left still clung to their narrative that the GOP acted unilaterally.

Yes the Democrats were happy to cooperate with the Republican leadership, and where were we at the end of the Bush presidency?

Today, the Republicans are absolutely opposed to supporting anything that the Democrats present, for pure political points.

[PoliCon]

Yes the Democrats were happy to cooperate with the Republican leadership, and where were we at the end of the Bush presidency?

Today, the Republicans are absolutely opposed to supporting anything that the Democrats present, for pure political points.

We were on the road to the hell the democrats want for us. Barry is hell bent to drive us the rest of the way to hell and you fucktards think it's a good fucking idea.

[Zathras]

Please pull up a high chair and join the discussion.

He can't...you're using the only one. Now here's a juice box. Shut up and let the adults do the talking.

[Gingersnap]

How so?

In the few years the Republicans almost always get every single member to vote along with the party. The Democrats have been the party with more groups represented and with more directions being pulled at once. Even with huge majorities in congress they could not get all in line.

How does this translate to the Republicans being reformable while the Democrats are not reformable?

The Republicans have acted as the Donkey-lite party for many years. Whatever their theoretical beliefs about core party issues, many of them have behaved as though they were blue dog Democrats. Many Republicans in office appear to want what the Democrats want on various issues but in a slower, more fiscally conservative way.

The GOP can redirect those politicians back toward the actual party planks. It's not that the Republican platform has failing issues, it's that so few Republicans have actually embraced the platform and focused on it over the past 25 years. The GOP has also dropped the ball badly when it allows the opposition to frame the issues for media consumption. These are fixable problems.

The Democrats can't scale back government, reduce entitlement spending, toughen law enforcement, or call public school educators to account for content issues. To do so would alienate the base but it would also repudiate 40 or 50 years of idealogical thought and implementation. It would be like the Baptists suddenly discovering that the baby sprinkling thing is just fine.

[Odysseus]

The Kentucky primary has shown us one thing: The Tea Party has significant influence in the Republican party.

However, as I suspected, this is going to be their undoing this November.

The Republican party is shifting right, shifting to the part of the Tea Party, which contrary to what they would ever want to believe, is a minority party.

Overall, there was only one single race in which a Democrat was running against a Republican. It's the only race that can give us a preview of November, rather than simply showing us where each party is leaning.

In that race, in a CONSERVATIVE DISTRICT mind you....the Democrat won:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_1...43-503544.html


So in a conservative district they elected a Democrat over a Republican, and the direction of the Republican is the laughable, easily mockable Paul legacy...well.... this is going to be great...

If that's the lesson that you, and the rest of the Democrats, want to take from this, please be my guest. Really. There's no tsunami coming in November, by all means hit the beach and kick back. But, if you do want to think about something beyond that lovely tune that you're whistling as you pass the graveyard, here are a few points to consider:

• Democrats had a 2:1 advantage in registration in PA-12.
• The Democratic senate primary boosted turnout among Democrats statewide, which impacted turnout in this election in their favor
• Murtha's district has subsisted on federal largesse for so long that the economy there is entirely driven by government spending. In that district, the Democratic candidate, Murtha's former aide, argued that he would continue to keep them on the gravy train, and they bought it.
• Republicans were split due to a conflict between the candidate and the previous Republican candidate, a retired Army LTC who had moved to the district to run against Murtha following his attack on the Haditha Marines.

So, what this tells us that that in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2:1, where the economy is entirely dependent on the pork barrel spending that Murtha and his former aid specialized in securing, during a high profile primary that boosted Democratic turnout, the Republican candidate still scored a higher percentage of the vote than any other Republican candidate had ever done in that district. It wasn't exactly a perfect storm, more like a perfect drizzle, but by all means, keep believing that the New Jersey, Virginia and Massachussetts votes were a fluke, and the congressional race in PA is the trend. As you said, this is going to be great.