# Will The Republicans ever figure out why they lost? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 26, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224 "2012-12-26T21:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 128
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2541 "2014-01-27T13:15:14Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Meanwhile, the EPA, supposedly underfunded, has taken upon itself regulation of greenhouse gases, a job Congress neither authorized nor appropriated additional funds for. Once again, entirely wrong. [It’s covered by the Clean Air Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_greenhouse_gases_under_the_Clean_Air_Act), an interpretation that the EPA **opposed**. > [@](#): > > On September 8, 2003, EPA denied the ICTA petition, stating that\*\* it did not have authority under the CAA to promulgate regulations to address global climate change and that CO2 and other GHGs therefore could not be considered ‘‘air pollutants’’ under the provisions of the CAA\*\*, including section 202.[5] **The Agency further stated that even if it had the authority to regulate GHGs from motor vehicles it would decline to do so as a matter of policy**. However, > [@](#): > > The Agency’s action on the ICTA petition set the stage for a prolonged legal battle, which was eventually argued before the Supreme Court on November 29, 2006. In a 5-4 decision in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, **the Supreme Court held that “greenhouse gases fit well within the Act’s capacious definition of ‘air pollutant’ ” and that EPA therefore has statutory authority to regulate GHG emissions from new motor vehicles**.The Court further ruled that “policy judgments have nothing to do with whether greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change and do not amount to a reasoned justification for declining to form a scientific judgment.”\*\* In EPA’s view, this required the Agency to make a positive or negative endangerment finding under Section 202(a) of the CAA\*\* So it’s not like they just decided one day to regulate greenhouse gases - the Supreme Court told them it was their goddamn job to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2542 "2014-01-27T13:16:17Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Heck, while we’re at it, let’s also adjust the state boundaries do they don’t unfairly discriminate against Democrats. Duly noted that you’re okay with unfair discrimination as long as it benefits your guys. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2543 "2014-01-27T13:47:07Z")
No, I’m okay with fair rules. The senate is what the Senate is and wasn’t created with any political party in mind. District boundaries are another thing entirely, but the concept of districts as logically shaped boundaries should be there regardless of which party it benefits. The courts have decided that an exception must be made for minorities, but that’s it. And since that hurts Democrats, tough cookies, Democrats aren’t about to oppose that. So since your side agrees with 90% Democrat-concentrated districts for the sake of minority representation, there’s not a whole lot you can do to create majority Democrat, or even 50% Democrat, districts anywhere else. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2544 "2014-01-27T13:47:23Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Meanwhile, the EPA, supposedly underfunded, has taken upon itself regulation of greenhouse gases, a job Congress neither authorized nor appropriated additional funds for. > > So don’t tell me they don’t have enough money. They chose to take on more missions than Congress assigned to them. God, this is pathetic. This is all wrong, you sidestep every criticism, and jump around in a Gish gallop of ridiculous Benghazi-esque spin. Can you please, please, please, think about every statement and ensure you can actually back it up before posting? It’s just sad that nearly everything you say is wrong, and when called on it, you don’t even try to defend it. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2545 "2014-01-27T13:48:39Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Once again, entirely wrong. [It’s covered by the Clean Air Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_greenhouse_gases_under_the_Clean_Air_Act), an interpretation that the EPA **opposed**. > > However,So it’s not like they just decided one day to regulate greenhouse gases - the Supreme Court told them it was their goddamn job to do it. The EPA MAY regulate, since the administration has the ability to prioritize. Since the administration started prioritizing greenhouse gas emissions starting in 2011, despite a falling EPA budget, they own that. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2546 "2014-01-27T13:54:16Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The EPA MAY regulate, since the administration has the ability to prioritize. Since the administration started prioritizing greenhouse gas emissions starting in 2011, despite a falling EPA budget, they own that. EVen if true (and I’m tired of posting links today), none of this makes you right or me wrong, nor does it excuse the GOP attempting to cut the budget of the EPA further (or indeed to gut it entirely) while claiming it should do more. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2547 "2014-01-27T14:36:56Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The number of seats is not gradual, it’s the statistical effect over time that is gradual. Huh? What kind of double-talk is that? > [@](#): > > In 2010, the cumulative effect of weakly held Republican-leaning districts, the loss of the Obama surge, and other political events turned the whole thing around, and after 2010, Republican controlled state governments tightened gerrymandering even more. Sure, anyone can just say that. But at least you admit that there were “other political events” involved. > [@](#): > > Your data are not relevant to the issue. You’re confusing the weather with the climate. Nope. My data is all that matters. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2548 "2014-01-27T14:38:42Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Democrats should figure out why their appeal is so limited that their voters are so concentrated in certain places, usually big cities. Really? You actually wrote that? ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2549 "2014-01-27T14:41:06Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That’s the other problem with liberals. Find a problem, throw money at it. Pass some more laws. Pat yourself on the back. The problem with conservatives: find a problem, cut the funding for the agency in charge, blame the agency that’s been inadequately funded for “mismanagement,” try to get rid of it, pass a tax cut somewhere, do nothing to solve the problem, pat yourself on the back. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2550 "2014-01-27T14:46:10Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > They ran out of other people’s money. Kinda hard to offer up big ideas when there’s no money. Actually, there’s even less money than that. The middle class can’t be taxed anymore. That’s a load. Effective federal tax rates have gone down pretty steadily in the last 3 decades for the poor and middle class. [http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=456](http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=456) The reason it’s hard to raise taxes on the middle class is political. People percieve a tax increase as an increase in their tax burden even if it is less than a tax cut they received previously. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2551 "2014-01-27T15:13:16Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Well sure, if you’re willing to a) get rid of majority-minority districts, and b) draw really freakin’ weird districts so that Manhattan voters vote with upstate voters. Yeah, let’s look at the [Ohio 9th District](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio%27s_9th_congressional_district), drawn by those stalwarts of logic and fairness, the Republican Party. Starts in Toledo, goes along the lakeshore to Cleveland, where it just happened to hit the district of another Democrat, forcing the two to run against each other. What a coincidence! Now that representative is actually representing 2 different areas of the state, which is not what representatives are supposed to do. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2552 "2014-01-27T15:43:14Z")
I think that what **adaher** fails to understand (well, one of the things he fails to understand) is that Democrats are capable of multitasking. We talk about hurricanes, because that’s important. We talk about gay rights, because that’s important. We talk about income inequality, because that’s important. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t talk about health care. We talk about that, too, because that’s also important. We are able to talk, and take action, about all of these things at once, because they’re all important, and anyone who can’t deal with all of these things at once isn’t fit to be part of government. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2553 "2014-01-27T15:53:28Z")
To be fair, Republicans multitask as well. They talk about Benghazi, they talk about abortion, they talk about Benghazi, they talk about contraception, they talk about Benghazi, they talk about gutting regulations, they talk about Benghazi, they talk about cutting taxes, they talk about Benghazi, they talk about the deficit, they talk about Benghazi. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2554 "2014-01-27T15:53:31Z")
> **[Four out of five Americans don't trust GOP](https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/four-out-five-americans-dont-trust-gop-msna255211)** > > Even their own voters have lost faith in the Republican Party. “That’s just about as bad as it gets,” remarks Joe Scarborough. **Four Out of Five Americans Don’t Trust the GOP** This, too, is excellent news for the Republican Party! I don’t know why that would be so, but I await friend **adaher’s** explanation as to why that is the case. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2555 "2014-01-27T16:48:00Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > [Four out of five Americans don't trust GOP](http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/four-out-five-americans-dont-trust-gop) > > **Four Out of Five Americans Don’t Trust the GOP** > > This, too, is excellent news for the Republican Party! I don’t know why that would be so, but I await friend **adaher’s** explanation as to why that is the case. It’s not like the situation is much rosier for the Democrats or Obama, although Obama’s numbers are up a smidge. But those are some bad, bad numbers for the GOP, and even low ratings for ACA aren’t helping much. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2556 "2014-01-27T16:55:00Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > To be fair, Republicans multitask as well. They talk about Benghazi, they talk about abortion, they talk about Benghazi, they talk about contraception, they talk about Benghazi, they talk about gutting regulations, they talk about Benghazi, they talk about cutting taxes, they talk about Benghazi, they talk about the deficit, they talk about Benghazi. You forgot rape. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2557 "2014-01-27T17:05:23Z")
> [@Wolf333](#): > > You forgot rape. They think rape is bad if it causes the woman to stop thinking about Benghazi. But if a pregnancy results, it’s God’s will and a wonderful thing! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2558 "2014-01-27T17:11:17Z")
**BobLibDem** , I’m really disappointed that you didn’t give the setup line for a Blazing Saddles quote. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2559 "2014-01-27T17:12:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **BobLibDem** , I’m really disappointed that you didn’t give the setup line for a Blazing Saddles quote. OK, I haven’t seen the movie for a while, what was the setup? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224/2560 "2014-01-27T17:15:44Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > OK, I haven’t seen the movie for a while, what was the setup? Hedley Lamarr: Qualifications? Applicant: Rape, murder, arson, and rape. Hedley Lamarr: You said rape twice. Applicant: I like rape. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224.md?page=127) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-republicans-ever-figure-out-why-they-lost/645224.md?page=129)