Dems lose the House in November. Who's to blame?

Great Debates
1

So UHC has passed and the Republicans will do their best to make sure no one forgets it over the next 7 months. I know the Democrats love to blame W. for everything. It was his fault the housing bubble popped even though Barney Frank blocked his attempt to reform Fannie Mae even before the crisis. And we all know the current Obama’s current deficit is W’s fault. In fact, W is so powerful, he has managed to force Obama to spend MORE money than any year Bush Jnr. was President.

So Election Day 2010 the returns look like a wholesale version of the Scott Brown election. Who do you blame?

Pelosi - I’ve heard her interviewed 5 or 6 times. She is a complete idiot. Bush may have had more malapropisms but in plain stupidity, its a race to the bottom between him and Skeletor.

Reid - Let the Republicans voteblock him even though he had a filibuster-proof 60/40. Most of the backroom deals were his doing (Louisiana Purchase, Cornhusker Kickback). He will probably screw up this reconcilation and piss off House Dems. If he loses his Senate seat (a real possibility) he’d make a perfect sacraficial lamb. This is my choice of who the Demos will pick to blame.

Obama - Remember when you Democrats told Bush Snr. “It’s the economy, stupid!” With 10% unemployment and 20% underemployment, I wish Obama had spent this much effort on a jobs bill. It was his plan and he forced it to pass (through his minions Skeletor and soon-to-be-ex-Senator Reid) despite only 40% support for THIS BILL and as much as the Dems claim everyone wants UHC, most Americans didn’t want THIS UHC to pass.

Republicans - If they had tried to reach a bipartisan compomise instead of being the party of “No!” then there would have been a lot more American support for the bill. But do you really blame the other party for your losses in an election? I mean, isn’t that the opposing party’s job to beat you?

George W. Bush - If he hadn’t had huge deficits and given us a horrible economy and gone to war in Iraq and kidnapped and killed the Lindburgh baby, then we wouldn’t have had to make this historic CHANGE on par with social security, civil rights and God’s creation of the universe. We sacrificed our offices before we sacrificed our principles. God bless you, my fellow Americans. <cue Hail to the Chief as he leaves the podium>
The voters - They’re too stupid to know what’s best for them. Luckily we do. (errr . . . did)

2

Maybe they’ll wise up and realize that liberals are naive, impractical dreamers that can’t really run a country. More likely they’ll just keep blaming Mean Old Conservatives though.

3

Did the last decade just not happen for you, Oakminster?

The Pubs have a good chance of gaining some seats, just by riding the usual midterm tide, if they start to cut the shit. But the odds of gaining the House, even if they do, are small, and depend only on that tide.

4

Reconciliation just passed the Senate. So at least one of your predictions seems to have failed within an hour of your making it :slight_smile:

I don’t think the Dems will loose the majority in either house, but if they do I suspect they’ll blame, with a decent amount of plausibility that the high unemployment rate was to blame.

5

Well, since the goal of this thread appears to be to start a partisan snipe fest I’ll do my part.

It will depend on events between now and November, and on how the campaigns are run, but mostly I think it will be either

A) the Economy, which although it is improving, and due to the major bailouts has avoided going completely belly-up, is still in the midst of a major recession. A truly partisan answer would then put this back at the feet of W, but I think there is lots of blame to go around. In this case the passage of the health care bill will be largely irrelevant

B) A combination of Republican fear mongering, and disinformation combined with an electorate that prefers to think with its gut and stay woefully misinformed. As people realize that the health care bill has passed and the rivers have failed to turn to blood, I think that this will be less likely.
In reality I believe that there will be modest Democrat losses in both houses , primarily due to the Economy but will still remain in Democratic control. However if the Republican party goes completely ape-shit we could even see some gains.

6

Presumably the Pubs would be running on a promise to repeal the health-care reform package – but how would that play with the voters, really? And would they really want to do it if they won?

7

Gotta admit, I’m shocked it was that easy.

Republican spin: Which is an indictment of Obama’s focus on UHC and not jobs and the American people.

Democrat spin: Which is the legacy of Bush even two years after he left office.

8

So, you simply don’t understand the financial crisis, huh?

As it happens, except for the stimulus it is. I trust you’re well enough informed to understand that the stimulus was necessary, right?

I guess not. See above.

I’d blame the Republicans for lying about HCR for a year and a half.

She is phenomenally good at her job. Probably much better than you are at yours.

Skeletor? <-Oh, I should mention, it’s NSFW because of language and sexual content.

Someone who was actually observing the last year might have realized that the Democratic party is made up of liberal, moderate and conservative wings. It is very hard to get all sixty of them to like the same thing. Couple this with the fact that the Republicans are cowardly, lying douchebags filibustering everything they can get their slimy mitts on, and an intelligent observer might note that the picture you paint is completely wrong.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/31/republican-filibusters-skyrocket/

See above.

Too late for that one.
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/the-senate-vote/

He is a victim of lying, scumbag Republicans who are filibustering everything they see.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/31/republican-filibusters-skyrocket/

HCR is an important part of the economy. Also, the Democratic party wouldn’t be in the kind of majority situation it was in for decades. It had to go first.

He passed the stimulus and a jobs bill.

The individual elements of the bill poll high. But the lying, scumbag Republicans have been lying about the bill for over a year. Misinformation has permeated so deep, it’s even colored your views as the rest of this post shows.

It’s the opposing parties job to reach compromises that help the country.

This is rambling and incoherent, so I suppose it doesn’t bear direct comment.

Most voters are within acceptable bounds when it comes to intelligence. Some, like you, are very, very uninformed.

9

No moreso than liberals who equate all anti abortion advocates with NAMBLA and the KKK. Or equate right wing terrorists with main stream conservatives. Or actually believe that anyone that doesn’t endorse their ridiculous rabid left wing agenda is an evil, corrupt, indecent, disreputable, dishonest, stupid or otherwise undersireable human being.

10

Double post because of the simulpost.
Actually it’s not a partisan troll. The Democrats have been blaming the Republicans for a year and a half. It’s Bush’s fault for major deficits but ignore Obama spending more. The Republicans refused to be bipartisan, but to be honest, did the Dems ever want bipartisanship in the process (IMHO: The Republicans were idiots as usual in NOT coming to the table with a plan and making Obama turn them away).

I’m not so naive that I don’t realize that this is business as usual in DC and the Reps do the same thing. The question I was raising wa ASSUMING the Dems lose the House in November, will they continue to blame the Republicans for beating them <cue Johnny Cochrane “That does not make sense.”> or do they blame someone in their own party. That is why I think they’ll pick Reid - especially if he loses.

Skeletor - “If he had handled the Senate better and not had backroom deals that upset the American voter, we wouldn’t have lost because of course the SML made deals while the SOTH facilitated compromise.”

11

I’m not sure I buy your premise, but if I did, I’d suggest it’s the ‘fault’ of:

  • tea partiers worked up over UHC
  • heavy handed government intervention (including TARP in the latter years of Bush the 2nd); virtual takeovers of GM and Chrysler come to mind
  • a longterm hammering of the deficit
  • raising taxes
  • Dems not spending nearly enough time on the economy, which almost everyone agrees was the #1 issue going into Nov 2008’s election
  • a general feeling that the Dems have governed very ‘heavy-handedly’, the recent UHC battle being the example the great unwashed will remember this Nov… if they try to ram down Cap and Trade, it will further cement this viewpoint among the electorate
12

I would say that anyone who thinks that Obama is pursuing a “ridiculous rabid left wing agenda” isn’t very well informed at all.

13

Pssst…I wasn’t talking about Obama.

14

Well, OK, then, we get to guess? “Joe Stalin” Biden? Nancy “Hot to Trotsky” Pelosi? Harry “Fidel” Reid?

15

I’d be very surprised if the Dems lose either house in Congress. Very surprised.

16

** Dems lose the House in November. Who’s to blame? **

Maybe they will manufacture some more fantasies about voter fraud.

I guess we will wait until November and see. I don’t mean on the SDMB - they will simply repeat "it’s Bush’s fault’ eight million times a day instead of four million - I mean the rest of the world.

I sure hope it happens. Not merely because we need to start cleaning up the mess, but to enjoy the exploding heads and flip-flopping here.

Regards,
Shodan

17

It’s not really that hard to blame the Republicans, though, is it?

18

Let’s try to get this thread on track.
The question was NOT why Dems would lose in Nov. The question was IF they lose, who would they blame because face it, in DC everything is always someone else’s fault. In my OP I tried to demonstrate that but apparently that derailed the conversation so ignoring those.

IF the Dems lose the House, then who will the Democrats (take your pick, the Dem leadership or the average Dem voter) blame for the loss.

Oh and Lobohan, not only did your post #8 not add anything answering that question, you may know what I do but you have no clue how I do it. OTOH, I have heard Skeletor’s responses to interview questions many times so
A) I believe I have much authority to call Speaker Pelosi an idiot as Democrats did when they did the same to Bush for 8 years.
b) You need to keep quiet about how I do my job unless you’ve actually seen me do it.

19

Rest assured, friend Shodan, that should such a wretched thing occur, we will not blame you. You have my personal guarantee.

20

Concur, with the proviso that six months is a geological age in politics, the shit can swing five different directions between now and then.