# Will Democrats ever figure out why they lost? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 6, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925 "2014-11-06T21:14:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/101 "2014-11-09T07:42:23Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That should, and hopefully will, end. But government should not pick winners and losers. You are still missing the point that we all be losers if we follow the path that virtually all Republicans are following. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/102 "2014-11-09T08:34:36Z")
Vox has a great article on the myths of the election. Notably, they disagree with me that failure to turn out voters isn’t the Democrats’ fault: > **[The 5 biggest myths about the 2014 election](https://www.vox.com/2014/11/5/7156913/5-myths-2014)** > > Vox is a general interest news site for the 21st century. Its mission: to help everyone understand our complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. In text, video and audio, our reporters explain politics, policy, world affairs, technology,... > [@](#): > > The problem here is that the excuse is, itself, just a restatement of the problem. A party that can’t turn its voters out for midterm elections has a huge problem. Congress matters. It comes first in the Constitution. It decides, for the most part, whether the president will actually get anything done. A party with a coalition that only really turns out in presidential years is a party that only has half of a coalition. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/103 "2014-11-10T02:16:08Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No; the Republicans are genuinely extreme, not to mention outright delusional. They believe in things are are simply _not factually true._ Given that the Republicans not only won many races but now hold a majority in both houses of Congress, with their House majority being their largest in decades, they are by definition not extreme. You may not like them, but that does not make them extreme. One might even characterize a claim that they are extreme as a delusional belief in something that is _not factually true_. Indeed, you yourself could plausibly be characterized as extreme, so that someone who disagrees with you is most likely less extreme than you. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/104 "2014-11-10T02:30:09Z")
Wow, no insistence in the OP that they were too pro-black. Good for you **adaher,** I actually mostly agree with the OP. Especially this: > [@adaher](#): > > 1. Defending tough seats by not standing for anything. Howard Dean was right: Democrats have to compete in all 50 states aggressively. The limp wristed campaigning of red state Democrats this cycle was even more pathetic than usual. Stand for something, even if it’s moderation. The Democratic Party has a structural disadvantage in that it is a big tent party (and a house divided) running against a very popular, well-organized, and church-endorsed ideological party. It’s a wonder the Dems win at all. Really, the Dems are a bit like the Grits in Canada with no NDP to scare them on the left. They run on old glories but have no new ambitions to match the old ones. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/105 "2014-11-10T17:14:28Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > **Will Democrats ever figure out why they lost?** Here’s one reason: [The Pub coalition has settled on a definite economic program and the Dem coalition has not.](http://www.salon.com/2014/11/07/gops_noxious_misguided_edge_why_dems_need_a_coherent_economic_plan/) ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/106 "2014-11-10T18:22:27Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > You are still missing the point that we all be losers if we follow the path that virtually all Republicans are following. It appears that the voters, those who actually turned out to vote, disagree with the views of your man-made-CO2-is-evil party’s horseshit. It doesn’t appear that you are convincing more voters to support your claims. Maybe your efforts are actually driving voters away from your political candidates? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/107 "2014-11-10T18:39:53Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > It appears that the voters, those who actually turned out to vote, disagree with the views of your man-made-CO2-is-evil party’s horseshit. It doesn’t appear that you are convincing more voters to support your claims. Maybe your efforts are actually driving voters away from your political candidates? Not even wrong, this issue, while it is very important, did not register much among the reasons why people voted for in this cycle. As I have observed before a lot has to do with the appalling behavior of the so called “liberal media” that in reality has to follow the corporate bottom line and kept this issue in the background only. Eventually politics has to yield to science, (and the reprehensible thing here is that the powerful in the USA succeeded into turning this into a political issue when it was not needed as past experiences showed) as an expert in disease commented about the true horse shit people like Chris Cristie was following regarding the forced quarantine of doctors that are helping to control the Ebola issue. And so it is with the CO2 emissions, [the supreme court already decided that indeed it is the Republicans the ones spreading the horse shit](http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/24/supreme-court-rules-epa-regulate-co2/), as usual people like you do not ever wonder if your complaints should go to the ones that are pulling your leg. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/108 "2014-11-10T19:04:22Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Democrats needed the young people who voted for Obama to come out and vote. They tried to get them by running against Obama. It was pure idiocy. Well the high profile races were Dems running in blue states, of course they didn’t want to be associated with Obama, Democrats, or, let’s just say it: democracy. They ran as Republican-lites because they felt they had to. I do not see how they could have done much worse running as actual Democrats who backed Obama’s policies, given that practically all of them lost, but what the hell, it was the Perceieved Beltway Wisdom. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/109 "2014-11-10T19:06:35Z")
The strategy actually worked well in 2012 when all they had to do was muddy the waters about what they really believed and put the focus on crazy Tea Party Republicans. Problem is, that was the last war and as much as Democrats might hate to admit it, 2014 showed that Republicans do learn from their mistakes. There will also be no shutdowns, no impeachment, no debt default threats. So Democrats better get used to Republicans as a rational threat. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/110 "2014-11-10T19:14:25Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > There will also be no shutdowns, no impeachment, no debt default threats. Heh. Heh heh. I know the leadership has declared this, but there is a significant wing of their party that is going to be hair-on-fire pissed if all of those things don’t happen. And they can’t just hand wave them away. This is going to be good. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/111 "2014-11-10T19:21:19Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The strategy actually worked well in 2012 when all they had to do was muddy the waters about what they really believed and put the focus on crazy Tea Party Republicans. Problem is, that was the last war and as much as Democrats might hate to admit it, 2014 showed that Republicans do learn from their mistakes. > > There will also be no shutdowns, no impeachment, no debt default threats. So Democrats better get used to Republicans as a rational threat. Again, there is nothing rational on this: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1kx39GNbcc) And I already pointed out that no shutdowns, no impeachment, and no debt default threats do depend on the House Republicans and many **more** Senators to behave, while I do have some optimism that in the end most of the efforts will end short thanks to the actions of the Republican leadership; I expect a lot of humiliating failures to compromise or failed votes coming from the Republican extremists. > **[Boehner's humiliating defeat: House border bill scratched at last minute](https://www.salon.com/2014/07/31/boehners_humiliating_defeat_house_border_bill_scratched_at_last_minute/)** > > The House appeared all set to pass border legislation after making concessions to the right. It still wasn't enough On edit: I can see that \*\*Fear Itself \*\*also realized that. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/112 "2014-11-10T19:27:13Z")
So the centrist Dems smacked the progressives hard. Gave em the old Rahm Emmanuel treatment. Such fools! And then the progressives didn’t show up to vote for Dem candidates and they all lost. Awwwwwwwwwwwwww. Poor Dem centrists! Those progressives BETRAYED you! ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/113 "2014-11-10T19:34:07Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Not even wrong, this issue, while it is very important, did not register much among the reasons why people voted for in this cycle. As I have observed before a lot has to do with the appalling behavior of the so called “liberal media” that in reality has to follow the corporate bottom line and kept this issue in the background only. > > Eventually politics has to yield to science, (and the reprehensible thing here is that the powerful in the USA succeeded into turning this into a political issue when it was not needed as past experiences showed) as an expert in disease commented about the true horse shit people like Chris Cristie was following regarding the forced quarantine of doctors that are helping to control the Ebola issue. And so it is with the CO2 emissions, [the supreme court already decided that indeed it is the Republicans the ones spreading the horse shit](http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/24/supreme-court-rules-epa-regulate-co2/), as usual people like you do not ever wonder if your complaints should go to the ones that are pulling your leg. Dozens of countries have banned travel from Ebolaland and more than a dozen states have instituded some kind of isolation/quarentine rules to deal with this relatively (to the U.S.A.) new issue. But Christie was the one the liberal media CHOSE to interview. The NJ position was changed to allow Hickox to travel to Maine but Christie only gets the blame and not the credit for being adaptable to updated information. Life goes on. The global temp hasn’t been increasing but the dire warnings continue as if it was. The voters can see that the current results do not match the promises of the global warming zealots but it’s assumed by the zealots that the voters are just stupid. You’re not going to convert people by insulting them. There are many Democrat operatives who are trying to lay blame for the massive loss of the Democrat candidates on anyone other than the Democrat Party and the Democrat candidates. I wish them the best of luck but they would have a better chance of recovering from THEIR loss if they lived in the real world. The Kansas City Royals lost the World Series to the San Francisco Giants because the Giants won 4 games and the Royals only won 3. The Royals played hard but they lost. It wasn’t the fans fault. It wasn’t that the rules were unfair to one of the teams. It wasn’t because the umpire didn’t call the game fairly. It wasn’t because the announcers were biased. They played hard, as a team, and they lost, as a team. The Royals can get their act together again and play hard to get into the next World Series or they can whine about everyone else for letting them down. Their choice. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/114 "2014-11-10T19:44:04Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Dozens of countries have banned travel from Ebolaland and more than a dozen states have instituded some kind of isolation/quarentine rules to deal with this relatively (to the U.S.A.) new issue. But Christie was the one the liberal media CHOSE to interview. The NJ position was changed to allow Hickox to travel to Maine but Christie only gets the blame and not the credit for being adaptable to updated information. Life goes on. With more danger as less doctors are willing to deal with that bullshit and volunteer less. > [@doorhinge](#): > > The global temp hasn’t been increasing but the dire warnings continue as if it was. The voters can see that the current results do not match the promises of the global warming zealots but it’s assumed by the zealots that the voters are just stupid. You’re not going to convert people by insulting them. Nope, just ignorant, and you are wrong on how many are. And if you have never figured out the difference between an ignorant and a stupid you are being misled even more by the ones that do not want to follow the majority of the people that do want the government to do something about this. The current misleading thing that happened mostly by omission in the past election was that many were mislead into thinking that the current crop of Republicans was capable of doing the right thing. [http://theweek.com/article/index/264928/americans-want-the-us-to-act-on-climate-change-mdash-even-if-it-goes-alone](http://theweek.com/article/index/264928/americans-want-the-us-to-act-on-climate-change-mdash-even-if-it-goes-alone) > [@](#): > > Perhaps the most crucial finding is that 62 percent of respondents are not content to have the U.S. wait on the sidelines unless and until other nations commit to emissions cuts. All but the most conservative of respondents said the U.S. should reduce its emissions “regardless of what other countries do.” Climate change skeptics have long argued that anything the U.S. does will not count for much if large polluters like India and China do not also take steps to curtail their carbon output. The Obama administration has argued that the U.S. has to exhibit leadership on emissions cuts (most recently through Environmental Protection Agency rules on existing and new power plants), and that the U.S.'s credibility at forthcoming climate talks in Paris rests on a demonstration of American commitment. > > The poll numbers suggest many Americans intuitively understand this. The partisan breakdown is intriguing: While Democrats (especially liberals) are solidly behind this flavor of American unilateralism, Republicans are divided: 57 percent of self-described liberal and moderate Republicans would support that effort. > [@doorhinge](#): > > There are many Democrat operatives who are trying to lay blame for the massive loss of the Democrat candidates on anyone other than the Democrat Party and the Democrat candidates. I wish them the best of luck but they would have a better chance of recovering from THEIR loss if they lived in the real world. Since science does support this item, why yes we do live in the real world, thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/115 "2014-11-10T20:16:35Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > The global temp hasn’t been increasing but the dire warnings continue as if it was. This needs to be explained once again: > **[The Escalator](https://skepticalscience.com/graphics.php?g=47)** > > Examines the science and arguments of global warming skepticism. Common objections like 'global warming is caused by the sun', 'temperature has changed naturally in the past' or 'other planets are warming too' are examined to see what the science... > [@](#): > > One of the most common misunderstandings amongst climate change “skeptics” is the difference between short-term noise and long-term signal. This animation shows how the same temperature data (green) that is used to determine the long-term global surface air warming trend of 0.16°C per decade (red) can be used inappropriately to “cherrypick” short time periods that show a cooling trend simply because the endpoints are carefully chosen and the trend is dominated by short-term noise in the data (blue steps). Isn’t it strange how five periods of cooling can add up to a clear warming trend over the last 4 decades? Several factors can have a large impact on short-term temperatures, such as oceanic cycles like the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) or the 11-year solar cycle. These short-term cycles don’t have long-term effects on the Earth’s temperature, unlike the continuing upward trend caused by global warming from human greenhouse gas emissions. The warnings do continue because back in the 50s-70s and even longer “pause” was observed and most scientists expected that warming was going to come thanks to the increase in CO2. **They were correct** , and with more evidence and more scientists in agreement this current so called “pause” is not likely to remain so. As pointed before it is clear that even Mitch McConnell has swallowed what a Republican pundit (not a scientist, and not an expert) has claimed about the issue and ignores the scientists; and as Neil Degrasse Tyson puts it, this is not going to help the USA: > **[Transcript: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Conversation with Bill Moyers –...](https://billmoyers.com/story/transcript-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-in-conversation-with-bill-moyers/?post=57534)** > > Bill Moyers is back with a new podcast that cuts through all the noise to get at the heart of what we need to be discussing as a country. Moyers On Democracy will take a look at all the threats … Continue reading > [@](#): > > BILL MOYERS: All right. According to the Pew Research Center, back in 2009, a comfortable majority of Republicans accepted human evolution as a fact. But now, a plurality rejects it. So I ask you, politics can trump science, can’t it? > > NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Well, in a free, elected democracy, of course. You vote who you want on your school board. There is no provision in the constitution for the government to establish what’s taught in schools. That’s all relegated to the states. Hence, we speak state to state about what’s in their science textbook versus another. > > And so that’s the country we’ve all sort of bought into, if you will, or born into. I think it’s a self-correcting phenomenon. Nobody wants to die, okay? So we all care about health. But above all else, among the Republicans I know, especially Republicans, nobody wants to die poor, okay? > > So educated Republicans know the value of innovations in science and technology for the thriving of an economy and business and industry. They know this. If you put something that is not science in a science classroom, pass it off as science, then you are undermining an entire enterprise that was responsible for creating the wealth that we have come to take for granted in this country. So we’re already fading economically. If this, if that trend continues, some Republican is going to wake up and say, “Look guys, we got to split these two. We have to. Otherwise, we will doom ourselves to poverty.” And so I see it as a self-correcting, I don’t know when it’ll happen, but they know. > > BILL MOYERS: So what do you think’s at stake? What’s at stake– > > NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: What’s at– > > BILL MOYERS: --for democracy? > > NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Oh no, it’s not, the democracy will still be here. It’s a matter of we’re just voting into office people who don’t understand how to make, how money gets generated. In, you know, since the Industrial Revolution and before, we have known the value of innovation in science and technology and its impact on an economy. > > If that begins to go away, it’s a different country. We’ll still call ourselves America, but we won’t lead the world economically. And that’s a choice we are making as an elective democracy. And as I and Bill Moyers realizes, the blindness on this issue does mean that the economy will suffer more by not doing something that is more economical now rather than wasting a lot more in adaptation and even geoengennering in the near future. > [@](#): > > BILL MOYERS: The battle never ends. And the choices we make in democracy often pit religious or partisan beliefs against scientific evidence that contradicts them. And beliefs can be stubborn, hard to give up. They even determine which facts we choose to accept. Partisans, especially – and who among us is not sometimes a partisan – will twist the facts to fit their preconceived notions. So, when people do stupid things, journalists and politicians included, cherished beliefs are often driving them, sometimes right over the cliff. As people in recovery say, denial is not just the name of a river in Egypt. And that’s what makes it dangerous. > > Right now, two powerful belief systems have converged to counter facts staring us right in the face. Just as the number of Americans who question the science of evolution has gone up, so too has the number who deny that global warming is happening, and that human activity is causing it. This, at a time when the global scientific community is more certain than ever that you and I, and everyone else, are helping to turn up the heat and seal our fate. And here’s the scary political reality: on both fronts, evolution and climate change, radical right Republicans have made denial a litmus test. You can see it embodied in this man, Paul Broun, Republican congressman from Georgia, and a physician with strong religious beliefs: > \* > PAUL BROUN: I’ve come to understand that all that stuff I was taught about evolution, and embryology, and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. And it’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior. You see there are a lot of scientific data that I found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young earth. I don’t believe that the earth’s but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says.\* > > BILL MOYERS: And when he took on the science of global warming, his fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives enthusiastically applauded: > > _PAUL BROUN on CSPAN: Now we hear all the time about global warming. Well, actually we’ve had a flat line temperatures globally for the last eight years. Scientists all over this world say that the idea of human-induced global climate change is one of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated out of the scientific community. It is a hoax._ > > BILL MOYERS: **Not true, simply not true. Up to a point, we might agree that Representative Broun’s personal beliefs are his own business, even when he is telling the extremist John Birch Society that this entire concept of man-made global warming is a conspiracy to, and I’m quoting, “destroy America.” But remember, this man is chairman of oversight and investigations for the Science, Space, and Technology Committee of the United States House of Representatives, passing judgment on public policy and science. God help us.** ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/116 "2014-11-10T21:10:58Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > This needs to be explained once again: I’m sure you’ve explained that over and over in the plethora of global warning threads, but there are so few threads about - “Will Democrats ever figure out why they lost?” that maybe this topic deserves a little more time to run it’s course. The Democrats need all the help they can get. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/117 "2014-11-10T21:17:25Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > I’m sure you’ve explained that over and over in the plethora of global warning threads, but there are so few threads about - “Will Democrats ever figure out why they lost?” that maybe this topic deserves a little more time to run it’s course. > > The Democrats need all the help they can get. 😃 And the point was spectacularly missed, what a surprise. One factor why they lost was the constant misrepresentations from FOX news regarding this issue and the the lack of pressure from the so called mainstream liberal media that just demonstrated how it did not pay much attention to this issue. And it is not just global warming, but as Tyson explained, the degradation of science standards and the degradation of our economy is to be expected when most republicans will impose their anti-science views on medical, biological and environmental issues. Science does not change just because you want to ignore it, it does affect the bottom line, and the wackiness of what many Republicans do think and want to do as a result was ignored a lot, not just by many Democrats, but by the important independent and moderate Republican voters. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/118 "2014-11-10T21:26:09Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > This needs to be explained once again: > > [The Escalator](http://www.skepticalscience.com/graphics.php?g=47) > The warnings do continue because back in the 50s-70s and even longer “pause” was observed and most scientists expected that warming was going to come thanks to the increase in CO2. **They were correct** , and with more evidence and more scientists in agreement this current so called “pause” is not likely to remain so. > > As pointed before it is clear that even Mitch McConnell has swallowed what a Republican pundit (not a scientist, and not an expert) has claimed about the issue and ignores the scientists; and as Neil Degrasse Tyson puts it, this is not going to help the USA: > > [Transcript: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Conversation with Bill Moyers – BillMoyers.com](http://billmoyers.com/ajax/transcript/?post=57534) > And as I and Bill Moyers realizes, the blindness on this issue does mean that the economy will suffer more by not doing something that is more economical now rather than wasting a lot more in adaptation and even geoengennering in the near future. If your plan to fight global warming must be led by Congress, then we’re finished. It wouldn’t matter if you elected 535 Ph.D.s in climatology. In a year, they’d all be acting like Congressmen, fighting over whose district the mega-CO2-condenser plant should be built in. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/119 "2014-11-10T21:32:49Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > If your plan to fight global warming must be led by Congress, then we’re finished. It wouldn’t matter if you elected 535 Ph.D.s in climatology. In a year, they’d all be acting like Congressmen, fighting over whose district the mega-CO2-condenser plant should be built in. Not the point here, the point is to inform others of the mistake that was made in the previous election, eventually this will change because as Tyson pointed out the bottom line (and insurance companies are already looking at the science and not the wishful thinking of the Republicans) will be affected and in the past I have seen even Republicans change (or enough of them to allow most of congress to ignore the few remaining wackos) when confronted by what the people **and industry** demands. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925/120 "2014-11-10T21:57:46Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > And the point was spectacularly missed, what a surprise. > > One factor why they lost was the constant misrepresentations from FOX news regarding this issue and the the lack of pressure from the so called mainstream liberal media that just demonstrated how it did not pay much attention to this issue. (post shortened) How many dedicated democrats actually watch FOX? Are you suggesting that many potential Democrat voters didn’t bother going to the polls because FOX news convinced not to go? I find that difficult to believe. It couldn’t be because the potential Democrat voters knew what the issues were (including your 1-pony show) and simply aren’t buying what the Democrats are selling? Wasn’t MSNBC/DNC available to present the opposing viewpoint? Couldn’t they convince the potential Democrat voters to go to the polls and vote? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-democrats-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/703925.md?page=7)