This is not complicated...

[FirstFreedom]

On why Repubs lost at the federal level. OK, forget about the 1st Am, 4th Am, 5th Am, Patriot Act, privacy, indefinite incarceration of American citizens without trial, etc. stuff for right now, which is the most egregious thing the pre-Nov-7 party in power had screwed the public with. Forget about the fact that stem cell research bill, a measure supported by Orrin Hatch and John McCain, was Bush's only veto. And forget about the Iraq war, the largest criticism of this federal admin, completely for a moment for this analysis.

Forget about these two things because really, we *expect* as much from the Republican party - they always lean toward abridging those rights, and being hawks, and pandering to the religious right as a tradeoff to accomplish their other goals. But even without all of that stuff, what did we and should we have expected the Republican majority to do? The answer is:

1. GET Osama Bin Laden - ya know, the dude actually responsible for 9/11.

2. BE Fiscally Responsible - don't saddle our children and grandchildren with a massive overwhelming debt load because of freewheelin spending and blown budgets.

3. STOP illegal immigration, and finally

4. Stop stupid gun right infringement laws, and restore some gun rights taken away by previous administrations.

That in a nutshell is what *I* expected. MISERABLE FAILURE ON 3 of 4 COUNTS. Remember, on #4, Bush2 PROMISED to sign the homeland defense rifle ban renewal - so he was fully on board to add this infringement. No repeal of 86 ban, or 922(r) or anything significant. So a failure on #4 too, but not a *miserable* failure like the other 3, since the Congress itself did at least not re-pass the HDR and standard-cap mag ban.

Again, it's not complicated why Bush2 and his Congressional rubber-stampers sucked.

 

[UH1-D Rotorhead]

Couldn't have said it....

any better myself...nice post

 

[Fremmer]

Well, regardless of the reasons the Republicans lost the election, they lost. But one thing I'd like to know....

1. GET Osama Bin Laden - ya know, the dude actually responsible for 9/11.

2. BE Fiscally Responsible - don't saddle our children and grandchildren with a massive overwhelming debt load because of freewheelin spending and blown budgets.

3. STOP illegal immigration, and finally

4. Stop stupid gun right infringement laws, and restore some gun rights taken away by previous administrations.

How will the Democrats accomplish Nos. 1 through 4? Specifically?

1. Osama: Are the Democrats going to request that we send more troops to Afgan.? I somehow doubt it. Perhaps the Democrats have a secret decoder ring that will provide Osama's location.

2. Be fiscally responsible: if you mean cutting spending, we'll see. The Democrats love to spend, so I doubt it.

3. Stop illegal immigration. Please. The notion that the Democrats are going to do anything about illegal immigration is absurd. Remember, as far the Democrats are concerned, if you attempt to stop illegal immigration, you are "intolerant" and "insensitive" and most of all....racist!

4. Stop the stupid gun laws, and restore gun rights. Yes, I can imagine that the first thing (or the last thing) that Pelosi, Kerry, Clinton, Boxer, and the other Democrats will do is to repeal firearm legislation. Come on.

Now the Democrats are in control, and we'll see what they will do.

 

[buzz_knox]

"1. GET Osama Bin Laden - ya know, the dude actually responsible for 9/11.

2. BE Fiscally Responsible - don't saddle our children and grandchildren with a massive overwhelming debt load because of freewheelin spending and blown budgets.

3. STOP illegal immigration, and finally

4. Stop stupid gun right infringement laws, and restore some gun rights taken away by previous administrations."

Let's see:

1. Let's see the Dems do that. Let's see anyone do that. You take someone who is very popular in a particular region, surround him with people who are religiously and culturally predisposed to protect him at all costs, and then have him effectively pull the hole in over his head, and try to bag him.

2. Business as usual for a good portion of the 20th century. Balanced budgets were few and far between, and almost exclusively the result of cooking the books. Don't ask the media to call it that because to do so would be to take heat off Republicans.

3. Right, and the Dems will do that. Like anyone will do that . . . or even could fully. Until the entire nation wakes up, nothing effective will be done about it. The Dems are already talking about scrapping the fence, which was the first step even if a token one. But they will eliminate illegal immigration in a sense: they will legalize it.

4. This played no effect on the election except to turn a tiny few gunowners against the Reps. Most of them were already turned away by the factors you excluded.

I don't particulary care for Republicans, but I don't think your 4 factors played much of a role. Certainly, they were inconsequential compared to the other factors you excluded, and which the media played up to the hilt. Now that the Dems seem to be backing off their Iraq stand, you should expect much more rosier discussions of the status in Iraq, including some of the good we've done over there finally making the headlines.

 

[Ausserordeutlich]

Vacuous, simply vacuous!

 

[Greg Bell]

Until further notice, my response is this....


What Buzz Knox said.

 

[gb_in_ga]

I don't particulary care for Republicans, but I don't think your 4 factors played much of a role.

I happen to think that those 4 factors played a large role, myself. Not so much that they caused the conservative voters to vote Dem, because the discerning conservative for the most part didn't -- they held their nose and voted Pub anyway, the lesser of 2 evils. What I think happened was that one or more of those factors caused some right leaning centrists to vote Dem, and that the collection of factors caused many conservatives to either stay home or vote 3rd party (where available). That, and the more conservative "Blue Dog Democrats" that ran in certain races provided nominal alternatives to the Pubs, allowing the Dems to pick up seats in what would normally be solidly conservative, Republican districts. The problem with those guys is, of course, that they still caucus with the loony leftists that dominate that party, empowering them.

What chaps me is that I agree with the sentiment of needing to "throw the bums out", but I'm not about to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. The time to get rid of the parasites and the spineless in the Pub party was at the primaries, not the general election. Waiting until the general election just made a bad situation even worse.