End of week opinion.
Paul Krugman:
"Nice middle class you got here," said Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. "It would be a shame if something happened to it."
David Brooks:
Many of my liberal friends are convinced that the Republican Party has a death wish. It is sprinting to the right-most fever swamps of American life. It will end up alienating the moderate voters it needs to win elections.
There’s only one problem with this theory. There is no evidence to support it. The Republican Party may be moving sharply right, but there is no data to suggest that this has hurt its electoral prospects, at least this year.
I asked the election guru Charlie Cook if there were signs that the Tea Party was scaring away the independents. "I haven’t seen any," he replied. I asked another Hall of Fame pollster, Peter Hart, if there were Republican or independent voters so alarmed by the Tea Party that they might alter their votes. He ran the numbers and found very few potential defectors.
True for the House, as of September, but not for the Senate. Ah, well. His own paper notes that Republicans are more unpopular than Democrats, as does every other poll that asks the questions. And the Senate is now a less likely switch, though it doesn't change the House prospects much. But Brooks ignores that because it steps on his story line (he does note how unpopular Sarah Palin is, and long term issues for the GOP.) But he's confusing universal distaste with the status quo with approval of either a Republican or a conservative agenda, neither of which exist except in the aging white demographic.
Gallup:
Nearly two years into his presidency, 51% of Americans say President Barack Obama bears little to no blame for U.S. economic problems, while 48% assign him a great deal or moderate amount of blame. More Americans now blame Obama than did so a year ago, but a substantially higher percentage, 71%, blame former President George W. Bush.
Hello, David? This is what Americans really fear. To the extent that the GOP can distance itself from itself serves them well. That's what your job is as an enabler with a platform.
Eugene Robinson:
Not to spoil the fun, but Democrats shouldn't take the Republican Party's bitter internal warfare -- and the inexperienced, flaky candidates who've emerged from the fray -- as any kind of reassurance about November. Try as it might, the GOP probably can't defeat itself. Not this year, anyway.
it's the economy, stupid. The great recession trumps everything in terms of votes, but doesn't make Americans like Republicans.
NY Times:
But the latest New York Times/CBS News poll also finds that while voters rate the performance of Democrats negatively, they view Republicans as even worse, providing a potential opening for Democrats to make a last-ditch case for keeping their hold on power.
Now that's the problem right there. It can't be just 'hold on power'. Who cares? Voters certainly don't. The question is what are you doing for the country?
Karen Tumulty:
One would be for the backing of the tea party and the forces it represents. The likely front-runner would be Palin, if she decides to run. But she would possibly get competition from Huckabee and Gingrich.
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The other would be to produce a more traditional establishment alternative. Romney could have the edge in that one, although there might also be support for such figures as Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Indiana Gov. Mitchell E. Daniels Jr.
That could turn what traditionally has been an orderly coronation into a long and bitter fight for the Republican nomination - which is the way Democrats usually do it.
As the contenders try to adapt, so does the party.
Gail Collins:
The national Democratic establishment has been ignoring [Alaska's Scott] McAdams. So many crazy Tea Party candidates to take advantage of, so little time. If places like the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee forgot about Alaska before this week, they must be totally distracted now that the Republicans in Delaware have decided to nominate a woman who won’t tell anybody where she lives because she’s afraid her political enemies will come and hide in the bushes.
McAdams may be an imperfect candidate, but he’s also an extremely inexpensive one. An Alaskan political campaign costs less than a tenth of one in big-media states like Florida and New York. He could probably run a competitive race for a million dollars, which is about the equivalent in California of Barbara Boxer’s postage budget.
WaPo:
Still grappling with his shocking primary defeat, Rep. Michael N. Castle of Delaware said Thursday that he will not endorse Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell because he could not tolerate some of the "personal smears" he faced during the campaign.
Non-endorsement by a GOP primary loser is becoming endemic. It's all part of the GOP civil war.
