Jonathan Alter Prepares Democrats For Disappointment

Newsbusters ^ | October 25, 2006 | P.J. Gladnick

[PJ-Comix]

What a difference a few weeks make. Three weeks after Newsweek writers, Howard Fineman and Eleanor Clift, gloatingly declared the End of GOP Dominance and just a week after that same magazine announced that the Republicans were losing its evangelical base, a sharp note of electoral caution has popped up in that periodical. Jonathan Alter is now cautioning Newsweek readers that the Democrats might not do so well in the upcoming congressional elections after all as indicated in the very title of his October 30 article, There Might Not Be a Tidal Wave:

...for all the talk of increased intensity this year, voters are still preoccupied with their own busy lives, not politics. They don't watch much cable news or follow issues closely. If they bother to vote, they'll often do so based on small, serendipitous shards of information.

In other words, despite the obsession of the extreme leftwingers in getting rid of the Republicans, the average citizens have OTHER things on their minds...like getting on with their lives. Alter then goes on to "discover" an old  political maxim---incumbents have the advantage:

In House races, lightly covered by the press, news is mostly generated by incumbents, who get to send out "franked" mailings to constituents that testify to their greatness at taxpayers' expense. And of course incumbents use their clout to gerrymander district maps so skillfully that two families living across the street from each other might be placed in different congressional districts—if such an arrangement helps protect those already in power.

Gee, no kidding, Jonathan. One doesn't even need to take a course in Politics 101 to realize the advantage of incumbency. However, Alter still isn't quite ready to concede that the Democrats might not win the seats necessary to control the House:

But while the odds now strongly favor the Democrats' taking the 15 seats necessary to win control of the House, caution is still advisable on a blowout.

After "reassuring" his readers that the Democrats would probably win enough seats for control of the House, Alter injects a note of Democrat fear towards the end of his article:

Karl Rove's eerie confidence about the midterms is a product of the Republicans' "72 Hour Program." Beginning in 2002, the GOP perfected a system where professionals supervise a highly elaborate micro-targeting of likely voters in the last three days of the campaign. My anecdotal sense is that across the country these operations are worth at least a couple of points against the traditional Democratic combination of labor and volunteers.

Jonathan Alter isn't the only one concerned by the perceived shift in Democrat fortunes in the upcoming elections. The polls, which now show the inevitable tightening up of the races, is causing widespread despair in the Leftwing blogosphere. The folks at the Democratic Undergound have already hit the panic button with hilarious results.

[ElPatriota]

Boy!... He has lost a lot of hair... (as in Seinfeld's show)-

[chiller]

I despise the guy, but the lower photo is certainly pre-cancer.

[Ravi]

Piece or No-Piece.

[cripplecreek]

I think Nancy Pelosi's pulling back on the impeachment thing is an attempt to soften the blow as well. She knows that even if they take control it still requires a 2/3 majority for a conviction and that isn't going to happen. All it would do is wind the democrat's moonbat voters tighter than a drum only yank the football away again.

[PJ-Comix]

Oops! I accidentally put DUmmie FUnnies as the source for this story. It was NewsBusters. I let the Administrator know about this error and hopefully it will be corrected soon.

[NCLaw441]

You said: He's trying to scare the Dems into voting.
***

You are right, of course, but the ones who read his tripe will already vote. When I think of the rank and file citizen, working, raising a family, living life, I don't see a reason for them to go out and vote for democrats who have given no reason to vote for them other than to throw out the bums. There is no place on the ballot to vote AGAINST someone, and if there is no reason to vote FOR a democrat (and of course there almost never is), all but the most motivated will stay away from the polls. The same people who may be willing to answer the phone and respond to pollsters are going to be less likely to take time from their day to vote for someone they don't know and whose positions on issues have not been articulated.

At least, this is my hope and analysis, worth about what you are paying for it.

[advertising guy]

he did the comb over like Rudy and followed Rudy is wacking the mess off

[HIDEK6]

This isn't panic, it's CYA.

They've been rigging polls and diseminating bogus information all season, and now that it's failed, the 'rats must cover themselves.

Didn't they say that the voters were daring to think for themselves?

[pabianice]

[NavyCanDo]

If you haven't yet - hit the "Panic Button" link in the story. It takes you to a web site that exposes the DU people for the dummies they really are.

[laconic]

My comment about Trump stands; I still can't understand how a billionaire like him can't afford more than an $8 orange wild hairpiece that Halloweeners would be wary of.

[Grampa Dave]

http://newsbusters.org/taxonomy/term/210/0

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter Puts His Heavy-Breathing Political Fantasies on Paper

Posted by Tim Graham on September 14, 2006 - 10:52.

Remember Al Gore’s "Saturday Night Live" skit where he pretended to be president and the world was a glorious place? Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter played that game in his column this week, suggesting that if Bush had been more Gore-like, just imagine what a paradise we would all be living in. In addition to fantasizing that the Arab world sympathized with us, and that Syria and Iran were "forced to help" with the war on terror, Bush’s domestic agenda looked a lot like Jonathan Alter’s domestic agenda: stiff gas taxes, terminated tax cuts, SUV-bashing, firing Rumsfeld. A liberal can dream, can’t he?

Alter is the really ugly Girly Boy Poster it for my tagline. This Gay hater of values and GW plays the same old hate Christians, real Jews, Republicans and of course GW Heavy Breathing Fantasies as news 24/7.

[surrey]

I'm quite sure "The Donald" is not wearing a piece. He just has a very imaginative way of styling what hair he has.

[mewzilla]

In other words, despite the obsession of the extreme leftwingers in getting rid of the Republicans, the average citizens have OTHER things on their minds...like getting on with their lives.

Funny, I thought he was calling us lazy and ignorant.

[laconic]

Trump's own hair?? I doubt it, next you'll be telling me that at 60 he's turned prematurely orange.

[spectre]

He has cancer..and is undergoing chemo. His hair will grow back..

sw

[Grampa Dave]

Get an overdose of Liagra for Johnathan and all of his fellow girly boys. They will need it in their hot tubs after we defeat them this November.

"

[connor_in]

The thing that gets me the most about these DU idiots is that they watch the MSM and are devoutly sure that they are controlled by republicans and are constantly bashing Dems and pushing a republican agenda. And here I thought Chris Matthews, Olbermann, Jack Cafferty, Perky, Brian Williams, Charles Gibson, et al...were non-partisan

[surrey]

I stand by what I said. Who in the world would choose to buy a piece that looks like his? I'll give you that the color is not natural.

[colorado tanker]

Looks like reality is setting in. The October Surprise came too early and the pendulum is swinging back. I'd say the odds are the Dems take the House with a very, very thin margin, but the pubbies keep the Senate, also with a thin margin.

Bush failing to push to confirm more judges before the election is really gonna hurt.