Posted on 07/17/2014 11:01:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The tell-tale sign Republicans expected to lose the Senate in 2006 appeared June 28 of that year. That was when the GOP turned to stunts to save themselves.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., brought to the floor a constitutional amendment banning the burning of the American flag. Flag-burning had not been a serious issue for years. But after Hurricane Katrina, and with the Iraq War going poorly, Republicans were desperate to change the subject.
“Flag burning is a form of expression that is spiteful or vengeful,” said the late Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., whose chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee was at stake in the coming election. “It is designed to hurt. It is not designed to persuade.” The amendment failed by a single vote. (To his credit, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, now the Senate GOP leader, voted against it.)
Today, the Senate is a mirror Image of what it was then. Senate Democrats, expecting to lose, have given up on actual bills intended to become law in favor of more cynical political stunts.
Their bill to undo the Supreme Court's recent Hobby Lobby decision is just a bit of blue meat for the base -- a messaging opportunity for their well-worn “war on women” theme.
More audacious, perhaps, is their proposed constitutional amendment to let Congress regulate political speech. This attempt to weaken America's original Bill of Rights could well backfire on the 41 Democrats who are co-sponsoring it, but for now it serves as a symbolic sop for the Left's naïve true-believers in campaign finance reform.
Neither of these measures has a prayer of passage -- especially the constitutional change, which would require two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate and ratification by the states.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Re: “Senate Democrats, expecting to lose, have given up on actual bills intended to become law in favor of more cynical political stunts.”
Why would Democrats expect to lose?
Republicans lead in only 4 “pick up” states.
Democrats are tied, or hold small leads, in the next 6 most competitive states.
After months of bad news for the Democrats, is this the best Republicans can do?
If I were a Democrat, I’d be downright optimistic about holding the Senate.
Dems are experts at stealing elections. They can’t lose.
You have brilliantly captured the essence of the situation in just a few words.
Can’t they BOTH lose!?!??
I've been told by a certain candidate for the US Senate in an extremely blue state that his first hard polling has the Democrat incumbent leading him 47 to 32 percent with 21 percent undecided. Nobody, even knows his name and he has 32 percent in the poll. He is giddy and said the info was not for publication yet.
I got a degree in journalism so thank my leftwing journalism professors...lol!
It's possible the “Border Invasion” may push Republicans into the Senate majority.
But I'm not sure why.
Besides Senator Jeff Sessions and Congressman Steve King from Iowa, there are no well known elected Republicans who vigorously campaign against Amnesty or the 1.1 million LEGAL immigrants who enter America each year.
In fact, just today I read an essay by Reince Priebus posted on Free Republic.
Priebus is the Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
He called the Border Invasion a “humanitarian crisis!”
Why would any Conservative be motivated to vote for a political party that is led by people like that?
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