Posted on 01/18/2010 6:33:08 PM PST by PawtucketPatriot71
This year's midterm elections won't be a repeat of the GOP's surge to power in 1994. Why? Because almost everything we think we know about that election is wrong.
Two Democratic senators and one governor announced their retirements earlier this month, and days later, the smart money has Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts Senate seat falling to the GOP for the first time in nearly 60 years. Suddenly, the Republicans are crowing and Democrats are trembling -- everyone says the Democratic Party is doomed in 2010.
What is the source of this breathless hysteria? Memories of the 1994 Republican midterm landslide. But everyone should take a deep breath: The 2010 midterms will not be a repeat of 1994. Why? Because almost everything we think we know about the 1994 election is wrong.
Let's look at the 1994 election. How was the GOP able to pick up 52 House seats and eight Senate seats to take control of Congress for the first time in over four decades? This was the second year of Bill Clinton's presidency, and his signature initiative -- healthcare reform -- had just failed. Although economists insisted the recession was over, unemployment remained high and wages were stagnant.
According to received wisdom, the Contract with America -- the agenda the GOP ran on -- capitalized on widespread discontent with Clinton and the Democratic Party and articulated a conservative vision that resonated with Americans. Newt Gingrich, soon to be speaker of the House and the putative architect of the rout, boasted, "We have a clear mandate, and we intend to be revolutionaries." Never mind that only 39% of voters showed up for the supposed referendum on the state of the nation.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
They do not realize the depth of animosity they have earned, or the extent that their policies will be resisted (as they themselves used to say) BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
Yeah, just relax. Don’t worry your pretty little heads about Massachusetts.
Just because the Republicans are going to make every campaign for the next 3 years into a referendum on Obama is no problem whatsoever.
While Obozo, Pelosi, amd Reid are out running their mouths, the rest of the party is strangely silent.
Good! Hopefully they will sleep through the rest of the year.
Secondly, do not fast forward and compare 2010 to 1994.
It would be much better for your cause to compare January 19, 2010 to December 16, 1773. Both involved Massachusetts, both involved tea parties, and both involved the future of this country....
The only way the Democrats can remove the Obama threat to their own electoral success is to remove him from office within the next couple of months.
I don’t remember anything like the tea party rallies back in 94. And I don’t remember the GOP having a shot at a Mass senate seat either.
Nancy 2010 is not going to be like 1994 for the Democrats, its going to be far worse because the current crop are the most morally unfit miscreants to govern we have ever seen.
There is a word for this.
Denial.
Liberals are very good at it.
Well, it rained that day in 1994 and water seeped into gasoline storage tanks which made cars not run and so many people were late to work that they couldn’t vote before closing because under the Republicans mass transit was allowed to wither due to their shortsighted selfishness and disdain for the common man who couldn’t catch a bus because there were not enough, but, now with the Democrats in control, there will be enough buses to take the voter to the polls and steps have been taken to impress private vehicles into service to allow voters to cast their votes and finish off the Republican party so that America can show the world that with smart people in control the Democrats can prove that Marxism does work!!!! Makes as much sense as the article.
Somehow I get the impression that this writer hasn’t been out of LA in quite some time? If he had been he’d know exactly what the people were talking about and know they were fed up with the left. He is rigth it isn’t going to be 1994 again, it is going to be worse!
Neither evangelicals nor white Southerners can swing this year's election, because they are the Republican Party.
That's news to this non-evangelical, NW Republican.
nothing suggests there are sufficient numbers of additional voters who can be recruited to its cause.
Would a stunning upset in Mass. tomorrow change her opinion? Probably not.
Naw, there is no trend toward fiscal conservatism, nothing to see here folks, go home a get a good night's rest.
The facts will speak for themselves, Nancy.
Wait and see.
I think Cohen is underestimating the anger that is out there, and ignoring other factors.
A few points of my own:
- On Election Day 1994, unemployment was around 6%. Currently it’s 10%, and not like to improve measurably anytime soon.
- Yes, Clinton tried to push through HillaryCare. He did not, however, buy GM or Chrylser with taxpayer dollars, and his economic stimulus proposals were but a tiny fraction of the 787 billion Obama has squandered. IMHO, many taxpayers are angry on levels approaching the 1980 election.
- Clinton took over at a time when foreign concerns were not first and foremost in the public’s mind. The Cold War was over, the Gulf War was a success, and most people weren’t thinking about the growing radicalization of Islam in the Middle East. Dealing with terrorism is a primary concern of the job, and Obama’s handling is raising a lot of questions.
-The outrageous behavior of the current Congress has to be taken into account. Blatant vote-buying in the Senate, the most partisan Speaker since “Ft. Worth Jim” James Wright. It’s probably not going to be the main issue, but you can bet some voters are going to remember the arrogance and corruption come this November.
-Clinton had a whole lot more on the ball than Obama. Bill Clinton may be a scoundrel and a liar, but he is also one of the toughest, sharpest pols of the last forty years. Obama is increasingly looking like a one-trick pony who is out of his depth. That may translate into deeper losses come this November.
1994 will seem like a pleasant memory to the SOBs.
They don’t get it, 2010 is a revolution.
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