# GOP still trending to win Senate **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 13, 2014, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426 "2014-08-13T10:52:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/61 "2014-08-14T19:42:56Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [Data tracking](https://www.intrade.com/v4/markets/contract/?contractId...) shows a reversal Oops, dead link. Try: [Republicans Blow Historic Opportunity To Retake Senate - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/republicans-blow-historic-opportunity-to-retake-senate) And then there’s the [Freepers](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2954724/posts): > [@](#): > > Mitt Romney will win this election (decidedly…and it won’t even be close) … > > Senate:…15 wins for Republicans by may count, with just 6 wins for Democrats…for a net of 9for the GOP. Reality: Minus 2. House: No numbers, just another GOP win, and > [@](#): > > Nancy Pelosi will be ousted as Minority Leader in the next Congress and will retire some time in early 2013 . ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/62 "2014-08-14T19:44:05Z")
If the GOP win the Senate, Obama should automatically veto everything until his term ends, just to give them a taste of their own obstructionism. It won’t be good for the country, but the GOP stopped caring a while back. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/63 "2014-08-14T19:56:25Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > If the GOP win the Senate, Obama should automatically veto everything until his term ends, just to give them a taste of their own obstructionism. > > It won’t be good for the country, but the GOP stopped caring a while back. I don’t see how vetoing everything the GOP comes up with could possibly be bad for the country. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/64 "2014-08-14T19:56:40Z")
Frankly, I think the Republicans are counting far too much on the usual “midterm fatigue”. People are _pissed_ at the do-nothing Republicans, and the people who usually stay home for the midterms are going to come out in droves. They probably keep the House, but their majority even with the gerrymandering is likely to shrink. The Senate? Forget about it. Oh, the polls, you say? RCP has a huge Repub bias. And they are not fortune tellers. Did any of them predict Cantor getting creamed by a Teabagger? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/65 "2014-08-14T20:03:09Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > If the GOP win the Senate, Obama should automatically veto everything until his term ends, just to give them a taste of their own obstructionism. > > It won’t be good for the country, but the GOP stopped caring a while back. That would be soooo great. Please please with sugar on top, Obama, listen to your “base”! ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/66 "2014-08-14T20:05:24Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Frankly, I think the Republicans are counting far too much on the usual “midterm fatigue”. People are _pissed_ at the do-nothing Republicans, and the people who usually stay home for the midterms are going to come out in droves. They probably keep the House, but their majority even with the gerrymandering is likely to shrink. The Senate? Forget about it. Would you like to make a small wager? If one of these events happens: - Republicans lose seats in the House - Republicans lose seats in the Senate then I pay $100 to your favorite charity. If it doesn’t happen, you pay $100 to mine. Deal? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/67 "2014-08-14T21:14:48Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > That would be soooo great. Please please with sugar on top, Obama, listen to your “base”! Hell, he ain’t MY president. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/68 "2014-08-15T00:19:12Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Frankly, I think the Republicans are counting far too much on the usual “midterm fatigue”. People are _pissed_ at the do-nothing Republicans, and the people who usually stay home for the midterms are going to come out in droves. They probably keep the House, but their majority even with the gerrymandering is likely to shrink. The Senate? Forget about it. > > Oh, the polls, you say? RCP has a huge Repub bias. And they are not fortune tellers. Did any of them predict Cantor getting creamed by a Teabagger? :dubious: So would you like to place a bet on this Senate prediction? I predict the GOP will control the Senate. I am certain enough to back the prediction with a bet. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/69 "2014-08-15T00:23:03Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So would you like to place a bet on this Senate prediction? **Bricker** , wanting to bet?!? If I didn’t see it, I wouldn’t believe it! By the way, what odds will you give me? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/70 "2014-08-15T00:37:02Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Non-sequitur. No, it directly responds to your silly suggestion that _ramming things through with 51%_ is somehow acting shady. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/71 "2014-08-15T00:37:22Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Frankly, I think the Republicans are counting far too much on the usual “midterm fatigue”. People are _pissed_ at the do-nothing Republicans, and the people who usually stay home for the midterms are going to come out in droves. They probably keep the House, but their majority even with the gerrymandering is likely to shrink. The Senate? Forget about it. > > Oh, the polls, you say? RCP has a huge Repub bias. And they are not fortune tellers. Did any of them predict Cantor getting creamed by a Teabagger? :dubious: Skewed polls?🙂 RCP doesn’t poll, they just compile polls. And predicting unusual turnout patterns is what gets people in trouble. People being pissed at do-nothing politicians? That’s never happened and never will happen. People get pissed at what politicians DO. Not doing anything may not make people happy, but it only pisses off ambitious partisans who weren’t going to vote for them anyway. If you’re a Democrat who had big dreams of transforming our country into Sweden circa 1970, then yeah, you’re pissed off. No one else is. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/72 "2014-08-15T01:00:47Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > No, it directly responds to your silly suggestion that _ramming things through with 51%_ is somehow acting shady. Can you quote where I said it was “acting shady”? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/73 "2014-08-15T01:08:50Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Can you quote where I said it was “acting shady”? I don’t wish to attribute things to you that you did not mean. But I don’t think you’re communicating effectively if you’re seriously suggesting that you didn’t mean to create some kind of negative attribution here. In response to this: > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Obama is just as talented a communicator as Reagan or Clinton. But there are larger segments of the population and of the political opposition who refuse to listen to anything Obama says, no matter how he says it, and no matter what he’s saying. > > So his challenge in communicating is greater than both, despite his equally impressive talents. You said this: > [@Terr](#): > > And ramming things through with 51% of the vote is doing wonders to alleviating this. In your mind, what did you mean by “ramming things through”? Did you mean to suggest that “ramming things through” isn’t some kind of underhanded, or negative thing? Why use such violent imagery then? Why not say _passing_? Or _enacting legislation_? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/74 "2014-08-15T01:14:24Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > In your mind, what did you mean by “ramming things through”? “Ramming things through” as in “going against the wishes of 49% of the Senate”. As in “winning by the slimmest of margins”. As in “barely there”. As in “using every trick in the book in order to pass it”. As in “running roughshod over the opposition”. Better? Yes, it is “negative”. No, it has nothing to do with “shady” or “undemocratic”. It is done in the open, so it is not “shady”, and it is done by the rules, so it is not “undemocratic”. Still negative. Yes, “ramming things through”, “going against the wishes of 49% of the Senate”, “winning by the slimmest of margins” and “barely there” votes do not do anything to alleviate the condition that \*\*iiandyiiii \*\* was complaining about. If you think they actually do - say it. Yes, it is “democratic”. No, it does not do anything to help the country. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/75 "2014-08-15T01:31:12Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > “Ramming things through” as in “going against the wishes of 49% of the Senate”. As in “winning by the slimmest of margins”. As in “barely there”. As in “using every trick in the book in order to pass it”. As in “running roughshod over the opposition”. Better? Yes, it is “negative”. No, it has nothing to do with “shady” or “undemocratic”. It is done in the open, so it is not “shady”, and it is done by the rules, so it is not “undemocratic”. Still negative. > > Yes, “ramming things through”, “going against the wishes of 49% of the Senate”, “winning by the slimmest of margins” and “barely there” votes do not do anything to alleviate the condition that \*\*iiandyiiii \*\* was complaining about. If you think they actually do - say it. So it involves tricks, but isn’t shady? I think your palpable disgust is coloring your rhetoric. > [@](#): > > Yes, it is “democratic”. No, it does not do anything to help the country. Well, the ACA did help the country considerably, by taking us closer to universal healthcare. But that’s another thread. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/76 "2014-08-15T01:33:53Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > So it involves tricks, but isn’t shady? I think your palpable disgust is coloring your rhetoric. They are legal tricks. All within rules. And all they do is blow more oxygen on the fire of partisanship. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/77 "2014-08-15T01:36:47Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > They are legal tricks. All within rules. And all they do is blow more oxygen on the fire of partisanship. You don’t think a standing filibuster is already doing that? If the GOP decides that simply nothing of consequence will pass without a filibuster, you’re going to get things passing with narrow margins. I don’t see that as a Dem fault, it’s the GOPs fault for demanding unthinking ideological lockstep. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/78 "2014-08-15T01:48:19Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > You don’t think a standing filibuster is already doing that? No, I do not. It makes sure that, especially for nominations that are lifetime appointments, extremists are not selected. Democrats worked themselves into a frenzy, but the facts show that the nomination filibusters were nothing extraordinary. In the Congressional Research Service report released back then before the “nuclear option” was invoked, it was shown that For district court nominees: Obama - Senate approved 143 of 173 nominees G.W. Bush - Senate approved 170 of 179 nominees Clinton - Senate approved 170 of 198 nominees G.H.W. Bush - Senate approved 150 of 195 nominees. I don’t recall GHWB time Republicans threatening a nuclear option, faced with such huge rejection rate. For federal appeals court nominees GWB - 35 of 52 confirmed Obama - 30 of 42 by that time See a huge, amazing, outrageous difference? I don’t. > [@](#): > > If the GOP decides that simply nothing of consequence will pass without a filibuster, you’re going to get things passing with narrow margins. It was not “nothing of consequence” in general. It was a bill that would change, quite significantly, the structure of American life. Passing it by the slimmest of margins is incendiary - mission accomplished, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/79 "2014-08-15T01:57:02Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > It was not “nothing of consequence” in general. It was a bill that would change, quite significantly, the structure of American life. Passing it by the slimmest of margins is incendiary - mission accomplished, I guess. GOP Senate leadership was on record that their top priority, legislative or otherwise, was to ensure Obama was a one-term President. Against that type of opposition, it’s either “pass with narrow margins of all or mostly-all Democratic votes” or “don’t pass anything at all”. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426/80 "2014-08-15T02:06:39Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > GOP Senate leadership was on record that their top priority, legislative or otherwise, was to ensure Obama was a one-term President. Against that type of opposition, it’s either “pass with narrow margins of all or mostly-all Democratic votes” or “don’t pass anything at all”. Or, “don’t pass it” or “pass it and poison the political atmosphere for decades to come”. As I said, mission accomplished. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-still-trending-to-win-senate/695426.md?page=5)