Those pesky Republicans! Once again, they won the war of Bumper Sticker Slogans and kicked some Dem backside with the assistance of the "Liberal Media" who has nothing better to do than grab a hold onto the latest Republican lie/Obama outrage BS/manufactured Acorn story and run with it. Notice the trend here? All of these things that our so-called media wraps their precious sound bites around have to do with playing forward untruths and creating realities where there was only flimsy vapor before.
Yet the mushy middle has a clue. Sure, there are bumpkins in the Republican electorate, but they comprise only the 20-something-percent of GWB worshipers. America has some real problems, and the Republicans aren't offering any usable solutions to overcome the myriad issues that afflict our nation at this time. They aren't coming from a position of strength, but are holding only ONE House of Congress and NO White House even after their supposed WAVE election of 2010 won them the House of Representatives and brought them closer to the majority in the Senate. Yet the majority in the Senate still belongs to the Democrats, as does the majority of one in the White House.
Thomas Fitzgerald at the Philadelphia Enquirer has something to add to this, and I think he has a pretty good grip on the issue.
Another polarized 'wave' election
Moderates fed up with both parties have led to rapid swings in control of Congress - much like the start of the 1900s.
Soon, the newly elected members of the coming Republican U.S. House majority will troop to Washington to fill out their federal-employee paperwork, hire staff, and get a suite in one of the three Capitol office buildings lining Independence Avenue.
They might not want to get too comfortable.
Voters last week ousted at least 60 House Democrats, producing the biggest midterm partisan shift in more than seven decades. More important, Tuesday's was the second such "wave" election in four years, reflecting an increased volatility in the nation's politics.
In 1994, voters gave control of the House to the GOP for the first time in 40 years. But in 2006, Democrats got it back as the midterm elections became a referendum on the unpopular Iraq war and the presidency of George W. Bush. The party's gains continued in 2008, when it picked up 21 seats as President Obama was elected.
Experts who study voting trends trace the phenomenon to accelerating polarization of the two parties, with Republicans growing more conservative and Democrats more liberal, leaving a large bloc of unattached moderates up for grabs. At least since 2000, this has led to close presidential elections and more frequent switches in control of Congress.
The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression only added to the ferment in 2010.
"A lot of these people in the middle of the spectrum are searching for answers: 'We need a change, a new direction,' " said Daniel Shea, a political scientist who directs the Allegheny College Center for Political Participation.
"The big question is: What happens in the next election?" Shea said. "If things haven't turned around, and independents are still scrambling for solutions, who are they going to blame?"
Republican leaders acknowledge that they may lose the House in 2012 if their prescription of tax cuts and less government spending does not deliver. But likely incoming Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) also claimed a mandate, saying Tuesday's result was a "repudiation" of Washington's direction under the Democrats.
Amazing! Republicans acknowledge that if their continued failed mantra of tax cuts and less government spending doesn't make the Unicorns show themselves to non-virgins and put a Pony under every Christmas tree that they could lose the House in 2012? Well, since we all know that Unicorns only show themselves to virgins and ponies don't fit under Christmas trees, it's obvious that they have a different plan in mind to completely regain power. That plan is to keep playing to the fact that there is a Black Man in our White House and pushing their message of Socialism, Nancy Pelosi and Liberals = Un-American. Seriously. It's all they've got.
Let's take a look at how they managed to get Americans to believe in Unicorns and Christmas tree ponies, and/or just fed their inherent bigotry instead.
How they did it: Republican triumph capped a careful two-year plan
The PowerPoint slides presented to House Republicans in January 2009 seemed incongruously optimistic at a time when the very word hope belonged to the newly ascendant Democrats and their incoming president, Barack Obama. "If the goal of the majority is to govern, what is the purpose of the minority?" one slide asked.
"The purpose of the minority," came the answer, "is to become the majority."
The presentation was the product of a strategy session held 11 days before Obama's inauguration, when top Republican leaders in the House of Representatives began devising an early blueprint for what they would accomplish in Tuesday's election: their comeback.
snip
The White House struggled to keep Democrats in line, with a misplaced confidence in the power of the coalition that propelled Obama into office. Republicans capitalized on backlash to the ambitious agenda Obama and his party pursued, which fueled unrestricted and often anonymous contributions to conservative groups, some advised by a nemesis Democrats thought they had shaken: Karl Rove. That money so strengthened the Republican assault that an exasperated Democratic party strategist likened it to "nuclear Whac-a-Mole."
Most of all, Republican leaders had the foresight to imagine winning again. Even now, they believe they could have taken back the Senate if they had just managed to block at least two tea party candidates who proved unelectable.
Yes. The White house did not have the pull to keep the Blue Dog and Corporatist Democrats in line and the money coming in from our newly SCOTUS appointed brothers and sisters in personhood, Corporations, overwhelmed American airwaves and mailboxes. The lies contained within were never fact checked by the media; in fact the media ran with them as they were so outrageous that they brought ratings, and with those ratings higher advertising revenues for the media outlets. It was a whirlwind of bullshit, perpetrated by wingnut welfare think tanks and perpetuated by a willing corporate media. Oh. And the lackluster performance by Democrats in getting the message out regarding all the true accomplishments they had made. This applies especially to President Obama, who seemed to want to stay above the fray until it was too late.
Memo to President Obama. If you want to be a two term President, and I don't blame you after all the race baiting bullshit that has gone down since you took office if you did not care one way or another, but IF you do want to serve a second term?
Be the goddamned Fray, Sir. Take your new minority House of Representatives with Minority Leader Pelosi and a much more Progressive group of Congressmembers and set them to doing one thing well. Getting on the airwaves and calling bullshit on the Republicans by using quickly spoken facts and figures to undermine the idiocy of the idea that tax cuts and smaller government will bring jobs back to our country. Nothing is going to get through the Senate anyway, because the Party of No isn't going to become the Party of Yes unless you sell out and begin that amazingly irritating compromising of the lives of Americans once again.
Start imagining winning again.
Stand the hell up and put their lies right back in their face. You have a minority in the House of Representatives, but it is a pretty progressive one now. Give them their scripts and let them run with it. Oh. And just say NO to capitulating to Republicans. Be strong, be loud and talk to the American people. Often. With conviction. Back that talk up with actions, or inaction if that is what it takes. Because the other side has already planned for inaction. Make them wear it. Loudly. With conviction.