A Shot Across the Bow
The Ny Times reports that the election of John Boehner reflects a general unease regarding the 2006 elections:
The surprise election of Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio as House majority leader was a cry of concern by an entrenched Republican majority, acutely worried that voter unease about corruption and partisan excesses could threaten its control of Congress this November.Mr. Boehner packaged himself as the reform candidate, methodically distancing himself from Representative Tom DeLay, the hard-driving former majority leader identified with both ethics investigations and a searingly partisan manner. His victory, following the restrained and politically unadventurous State of the Union speech on Tuesday night by President Bush, left the impression of a party on the defensive as it surveys the inhospitable electoral terrain.
White House officials have grown increasingly anxious about the prospect that Democrats could regain control of the House this November, even as they have become less worried about holding on to the Senate. Their concern is particularly pointed because if Republicans lose control of either house of Congress, it is difficult to see what Mr. Bush could accomplish in his last two years in office.
After 12 years of Republican control of the House, the White House views House Republicans as vulnerable to precisely the wave of voter discontent that gave them control of the House in the first place in 1994.
I am sure the usual suspects will, rather than heed the advice in the article, flail away at Adam Nagourney. That would be stupid, which is why I completely expect it to happen.
yet another jeff
That’s not pessimism in your words, that’s just a solid view of reality.
The Other Steve
Good. The fucking trools can die for all I care.
Richard Bottoms
Never underestimate the stupidity of Republican voters.
There must be a significant number of hillbillys in the Republican party who feel safer knowing their president is protecting them against Al Quaeda geniuses who plan to bring down the Brooklyn Brodge wit a blowtorch.
Otherwise why are admnistration officials STILL touting this great blow for freedom?
...
The idea that someone could bring down the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch has been ridiculed, but Chertoff said, “People kid about the shoe bomber, but had the bomb gone off and 150 people were killed, I don’t think a lot of families would be laughing about it.”
http://www.durantdemocrat.com/.....news/news9.txt
So the Brooklyn Bridge’s stability is as fragile as a pressurized airplane cabin? Dumbasses.
Darrell
Just curious who you consider “the usual suspects”, as I can’t remember reading about any conservatives defending DeLay or involvement with Abramoff. In particular, Nagourney’s summary
although there may be quibbling over exactly how vulnerable Republicans are, who is questioning the fact that Repubs are vulnerable to losing seats or losing control of the house?
Oliver Willis » “Unease”
[...] I don’t know why Republicans would feel any concern aboout the 2006 election. If Democrats continue on the path they’ve been on for the last 13 or so months – that is, capitulation, wimpyness, flip-flopping – the GOP should expect either the status quo or to pick up seats in the House and Senate. They’ll deserve it, because at least they want to fight for their side, no matter how evil their intent may be. [...]
Pooh
Yeah I missed all those stories about what an incompetent partisan hack the prosecutor in the DeLay case is.
That being said, this
is sensible. Of course the ability of Dems to fuck it up is not to be underestimated.
Darrell
Ronnie Earle is a political hack and it’s fair to characterize him as such. I also think many of the charges against DeLay were trumped up. However, that doesn’t mean that DeLay wasn’t a sleazeball, even if he isn’t guilty of breaking any laws.
National Review, Captain’s quarters, Instapundit etc all have stated that DeLay is “ethically challenged” or similar such language
Pooh
That’s fair. That being said, the former was strongly emphasised while the latter was maybe admitted as an aside. Which is fine, we all do it, but let’s be honest that it happened.
Richard Bottoms
You know I’ve had about enough of this meme as well.
We are minority in the House and Senate with no power to hold hearings or investigate shit.
Our oppenets are completely comfortable with lying when it suits them, will trash even a legless vet as a traitor and have a cowed trembling pulic afriad of every shadow as Al Quaeda to back up any crazy thing they propose.
Abetted by folks like John who are belatedly coming to realize that just maybe some of those lefty moonbats may be on to something our side has been trashed for 6 years, longer if you count the Gore invented the internet story that was bought hook, line and sinker.
Fuck this noise. My party is standing up to a fag bashing, traitor yelling, intolerant, mean spritied supremely well funded gang and I am proud of them for doing it.
Pooh
Richard, I’m not disagreeing with you, but I’m not seeing the fight. There’s occasionally the appearance of a fight.
Perhaps the NSA hearings will allow them to turn the corner. Feingold had a good riposte to the “9/10 mentality” crap – that’s what I’m talking about. More of that, dare I say more Al Gore? Less bloviating in hearings, less politcking from Swiss ski slopes.
The Disenfranchised Voter
We definitely need more Al Gore-Bob Barr collaborations.
Steve
Just curious who you consider “the usual suspects”, as I can’t remember reading about any conservatives defending DeLay or involvement with Abramoff.
Former Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Young, DeLay’s pastor, stated his support for DeLay at an event in Houston. “Tom, we believe in you,” Young said. “A lie will run around the world four or five times before the truth can put on its tennis shoes, but once the truth gets its tennis shoes on and laced up, look out.”
Focus on the Family’s James Dobson defended DeLay and attacked his critics. “Today’s indictment of Majority Leader Tom DeLay bears all the signs of a trumped-up, political witch-hunt,” Dobson said. “The extreme left has seized this chance to take a swipe at one of America’s leading advocates of family values. We have every confidence that time will prove these charges false and we look forward to the majority leader being fully vindicated.”
Jerry Falwell of Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty University compared the indictment of DeLay to President Richard Nixon’s “vicious” attacks on his political enemies, and argued that DeLay “is the target of an ugly political witch hunt.”
Falwell also wrote: “While the dogs continue to yap at his heels, I hope that Rep. DeLay can get past the nasty politics that have seemingly brought him to this point. And I pray that he can quickly prove his innocence and get back to work as one of our eminent political leaders.”
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, stated: “I have spoken with Congressman DeLay and I’m convinced that what he is saying is exactly as he sees it. He did not commit any violation of the law nor has he violated any rule of the House. I just want to encourage you to pray for Congressman DeLay and his family and also pray for the Republican leaders in Congress.”
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“When anybody drops indictments 40 days before an election, there’s a political spin to it,” Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said. “Tom DeLay is somebody I’ve stood for, I’ve stood with. . . . I continue to look forward” to working with him.
“I think it has made the [Republican] members even more supportive of the leader,” said GOP Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who called the indictments politically motivated.
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In an interview with Fox News, Bush said he hopes DeLay will be cleared of charges that he illegally steered corporate money into campaigns for the Texas legislature and will reclaim his powerful leadership position in Congress.
“I hope that he will, ‘cause I like him, and plus, when he’s over there, we get our votes through the House,” Bush told Fox News’s Brit Hume.
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The Other Steve
I love equivocating!
I wonder if you’ll be saying the same thing if DeLay is convicted?
Otto Man
Well said, Sen. Cornyn.
Richard Bottoms
That’s hitting the nail on the head:
I know I’m going to get bombarded for going after another DLC Democrat. Here’s the thing… I don’t care where Evan Bayh lands on the political spectrum. I would be saying this same exact thing if it was Rush Holt making this type of statement. Moderation and centrism are fine with me. My problem is representation of the Democratic brand as broken and weak. That’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If even Democratic lawmakers are telling the media that Democrats don’t appear strong, they’re helping to perpetuate that narrative. In other words, my frustration is not with the ideology—it’s with the stupid marketing.
Representatives from Procter & Gamble don’t go on CNBC and talk about the fact that the perception exists that Tide could do a better job of removing stains. They just show evidence to the contrary. This kind of message craft, starting from a negative assumption, is unheard of in the corporate world. It’s a lesson Democrats need to learn if they’re serious about winning the hearts and minds here at home.
http://www.mydd.com/
It’s time to dumb the Republican framing of our party. Fuck them. May I point out the the “hapless Al Gore got more votes than anyone in history up to that point. He BEAT his opponent in the popular vote.
What is this crap about we can’t draw voters.