Yesterday, in one of the most humorous posts I have yet to see in the partisan blogosphere, Leo Pusateri denounced Democrats for being so mean and bullying the saintly George W. Bush. However, given the situation that the Republican Party is currently facing in both national and state politics it is hardly surprising for Pusateri to put on the blinders. He and my other favorite conservative blogger, Gary Gross of Let Freedom Ring, are trying daily to find some sense of relevance in a country and state that is rejecting the very premise of their arguments.
In an extremely well written and comprehensive article, CQ Politics analyzes the current grim outlook for Republicans heading into the '08 election. Granted, things could change within a matter of minutes but as of right now Republicans are screaming into the wind as the country moves toward larger Democratic majorities, a Democratic President, and in a perfect world, a Bachmann-free Congress.
It’s Looking Like Blue Skies All Over Again
By Bob Benenson and Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff
Just over a year ago, Democrats seized control of Congress because of the voters’ exhaustion with the war in Iraq and disgust at the Republican majority’s increasingly brazen manipulation of the levers of power. Now, less than a year from the next election, little has happened to elevate the voters’ mood — or their impression of the party that ruled the federal government from 2003 through 2006.
Nearly every polling indicator of the last few months displays a move away from the Republican politics of corruption, hypocrisy, and outright lies. While overall Congressional approval remains remarkably low, conservatives don't seem to realize that those numbers include a vast amount of the population tired of the obstructionism of the Republican minority of which our very own Michele Bachmann is a leading member.
Republicans, meanwhile, appear destined for a yearlong internecine battle for the heart and soul of the party. Even if they manage to rally behind a single presidential candidate next spring, it is not at all clear that any of the leading candidates for the nomination can count on the loyal and enthusiastic support of evangelical Christians and other social conservatives who have formed the bedrock of the GOP “base” for more than a quarter-century.
For some time now we have watched the Republican Party splitting into its religious evangelical wing and its socially moderate business wing. Now, however, as the Republican Party tries to reconcile these two factions they both seem to be abandoning the party. As the business community is increasingly up for grabs and Bush feigns fiscal discipline to get them back, the Republican Presidential front runners are driving away evangelical voters. If this exodus continues, Pusateri and Gross may not have a Republican Party to fawn over!
So the Democrats have the institutional numbers in their favor. But do they have the issues on their side and the voting public’s support? Here again, underpinning the Democrats’ advantage are a number of indicators that appear consistently across public opinion polls — even if, in some cases, it’s more a matter of their party being less unpopular than the GOP.
An ABC News-Washington Post survey taken from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 showed Democrats not only leading Republicans by double-digit percentage points on Iraq, the economy and health care, but also leading by 7 points on immigration issues and 6 points on taxes — two matters the GOP is counting on to turn the tide its way. Even on the war on terrorism, the trademark issue for the Bush administration, which Republicans have emphasized since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Democratic Party is now statistically even with the GOP.
But the biggest factor working in the Democrats’ favor continues to be that they are not the Republicans.
The GOP is still reeling from the steep drop-off in public confidence that hurt the party so deeply last November — a result of the waning public support for the Iraq War, economic uncertainties, ethics controversies and other problems that concomitantly turned Bush into one of the most unpopular presidents of modern times.
Republicans have spent much of the year trying to reinvigorate their base by battling Democratic initiatives and are working to polish their “brand” before the election. “We’re in the season of battle and obstruction,” said sixth-term Rep. Charles W. “Chip” Pickering Jr. of Mississippi, who’s one of the GOP incumbents giving up his seat next year but who still harbors statewide political aspirations. “Next year will be the season of defining and developing an agenda.”
Republicans have ballyhooed the universally negative congressional job approval figures as an indication that Democrats are poised for a fall next year. (Congress’ most recent approval ratings were 19 percent in an NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey taken Nov. 1-5, and 28 percent in the ABC-Post poll of the week before.)
Yet in the accompanying questions about how voters view each party in Congress, there is much, much less for the Republicans to cheer about. True, 36 percent in the ABC-Post poll approved of the Democrats, and 58 percent disapproved. But the figures for the GOP were worse: 32 percent approval and 63 percent disapproval. When asked a broader question about the parties, 51 percent said they have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, while only 39 percent said the same about the Republicans.
Despite grasping at straws, partisans such as Gross and Pusateri really have nothing to lose. It is really the Democratic Parties election to lose. If they play their cards right and don't screw up ala Republicans over the last decade they will be sitting pretty in 2008. However, if they don't find ways to continue showing that they are willing to work together and that it is the Republican Party which refuses to do so, then they may find themselves with the short end of the stick. There are those at True North who have already packed it in and it is only a matter of time before the rest of the loyal lemmings see the writing on the wall and stop grasping at straws.
1 Response to "On Grasping At Straws"
You've got some balls talking about the GOP corruption while doing & saying nothing about the lies that Mark Ritchie told, not to mention the corruption fo John Murtha, Alan Mollohan & Cold Cash Jefferson. That's just the tip of the ethical iceberg, too.
Also, the Pew Poll shows opinions shifting to a wash on Iraq.
Finally, in poll after poll, people are rejecting tax increases by sizeable margins.
Keep believing that stuff. It'll get you a seat in the minority in the Minnesota House & the US House if Republicans catch a couple brakes.
NOTE: It isn't 2006 anymore.