Discussion for article #231310
Incentive my ass! They have a responsibility to govern, not campaign 24/7/365.25. This is their last chance to show the proof of conservative wisdom* in the form of actual results. Reality based people expect legislation that will only benefit the One Percent and Congressional fund raising.
*Yeah, conservative and wisdom are hard words to put in the same sentence.
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Strategy aside - the GOP is incapable of doing anything productive whether one of their many factions wants to or not.
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Another stupid Sahil Kaur story
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Wow, Sahil. What a treatise of truthiness.
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The reason is simple: Americans credit the president when things are good, and blame the president when things are bad, according to studies.
What neither the GOP nor the author seem to realize is that Obama is not up for re-election in 2016.
And the GOP doesn’t care - They are ideologically driven to get 100% of everything they want, or throw a tantrum trying. Saying they have some sort of strategy to do nothing to punish the President gives them too much credit.
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Why do they keep getting elected??? They’ve always been a$$holes… Figure out why people vote for them, FIX THAT… That’s the problem.
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Do we hear ourselves talking here? There IS an incentive to ruin the economy in order to gain political power. This is disgusting, but it’s also soooooo Republican.
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But a Democrat will be up for Presidential election in 2016.
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John Sides as quoted by TPM:
If a lack of initiative hurts the economy, the president pays a price. … So a sluggish economy and an unpopular president is helpful to Republicans up and down the ballot in 2016.
And the President still isn’t running again in 2016, which makes Sides’s point pretty irrelevant.
John Sides:
That makes it somewhat challenging for President Obama and for the Democrats more generally to turn Republican behavior in Congress into a political issue that nets them votes …
I can’t speak for the Democratic Party, but I expect the GOP will manage to make Republican behavior in Congress a political issue all by themselves. They have a tendency to overreach when they think they have more power than they actually possess.
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People who believe the conventional wisdom that Republicans have to prove they can govern, usually seem confused between what they imagine it means to govern versus what Republicans think it means:
- To redistribute wealth upwards.
- To start wars they can’t finish.
- To judge everyone who isn’t a rich, white, Christian man.
So far they show every sign of seeking all of the above.
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I’m not smart enough to know what the Republican Congress will do, but yesterday’s Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll had Obama at 51% approval. Therefore, much depends on Obama having the ability to press his advantage and make sure that adverse developments are placed squarely on Republican shoulders. For example, Obamacare: another Rasmussen poll showed it at its highest approval level. How will people react if (when ) the Supreme Court tries to wreck it in the “Federal Exchange” case. At lot will depend on whether Obama has prepared the country for the decision and then having a series of work arounds that will “save” the health insurance for millions of Americans, many of them in the Red South. I wish I had more confidence in this WH understanding the challenge, let alone the opportunities in these kinds of scenarios.
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McCoNNELL and BOEHner STAted faCTUAlly THAT they ARre GOing TO geT THiNGS Done. ALL of THis ANti-aMErican LIBtardic WHining ISN’t gOING to CHANGE the FACT that THE TRUE coNSErvative MAJOrity of AmericaNS GAVE the CONGress a MANDAte to MAKe sURE THAT baLACK insane NOBAMA is A TWo-terM presiDEnt!!!1!1!!one11!!!
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So basically this is a no brainer. Do nothing, lie as to why it’s happening and blame democrats and obama.
We know this movie already. Been living it for 6 years now. The problem is how to reach the minds of the ill informed that they are screwing you too. I know that is a lot to ask for, but we got to try.
So Sahil, it’s your turn. Spread the word.
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Damn, they might be able to thwart Obama’s third term.
The problem is they can’t blame Harry Reid.
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The House is secure for the GOP because of gerrymandering. Now the Senate is in play and they will have to be able to do something or the voters will blame them.
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“Bob Shrum, a veteran Democratic strategist who has never been right about a thing his entire career”
There, fixed it for you.
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TPM posted an article the other day from the AP about how the Republicans wanted to show the public that they could actually govern and now we have a piece from Sahil Kapur about why they won’t be willing to govern.
Since Mr. Kapur , TPM’s senior congressional reporter, was caught with his pants down and was totally clueless about the opposition to the CRomnibus bill in the House, I think I’ll go with the AP.
We will see a lot of these " Democrats are screwed " articles here in the next 2 years.
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One that is not in the administration right now. Nobody thinks Hillary is running as Obama’s third term. Tanking the booming economy actually hurts anybody in power. The Republicans control the house and the senate. They can’t hide behind Harry Reid anymore.
Yes, and they’ve certainly paid a heavy price for that overreach.
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