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If Democrats Don't Win this November...

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by dbermanmd, Oct 11, 2006.

  1. dbermanmd

    dbermanmd New Member

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    I might be of the opinion that if the Democrats do not do very well this election cycle - it is basically over for the current iteration of the Democratic Party. Given the following:

    The Foley email scandal
    The Iraq War
    The Budget Deficit
    The growing disparity between Rich and Poor
    North Korea going Nuclear
    The Six Year Itch (historically a bad election cycle for a two term President)
    Low presidential ratings with repubs shunning him who are running for election
    Etc, Etc, Etc

    There could not be darker clouds over the Republicans than there are now and what seems to be a perfect storm is catching them at election time. If the Democrats do not sweep both Houses, if they dont capture at least one House the only reason will have to be that Americans do not trust or want them. I mean that if the republicans maintain control of BOTH houses after this November's election - that would be DEVASTATING to the Democrats - what else could happen to benefit them??

    Your thoughts...
     
  2. jmccord

    jmccord New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Oct 11 2006, 01:39 PM) [snapback]331272[/snapback]</div>
    My thoughts...?
    The electorate is fed up with BOTH parties! :angry:
     
  3. Proco

    Proco Senior Member

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    Do you mean what else could happen to benefit them in the next couple weeks? Gas prices rising and the stock market tanking are two things that come to mind right away.

    In my opinion, the Democrats have spent too much time reacting rather than acting. They shot themselves in the collective foot a few years ago by being afraid of the "soft on terrorism" accusation. They also need to decide what their base is and go after it. Lately it seems like their message is "we're more moderate than the neo-cons". That's not really clear. A lot of regular Republicans are more moderate than the neo-cons, too.

    One thing I'll say for the Republicans ... they've done a better job in recent years of energizing their base. And it translated to votes. Whether they do it through fear (terrorism, gay marriage, etc), "Swift Boating", or honest hard work doesn't matter. In '04 they got out the vote better than the Democrats.

    If the Dems don't win at least one house in November, I think they need to do what perpetually losing sports teams do. "Blow up the team" and start over. Decide on a definite identity and stick to it, regardless of what happens in the '08 elections. It may not pay off right away, but they've got to offer something more cohesive than "Hey, at least we're not Republicans!"

    Just the humble opinion of an Independent who campaigned for Kerry.
     
  4. Alric

    Alric New Member

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    To add a few:

    Losing face with the international community
    Attempts of manipulation of scientific results.
    Censorship of scientific results.
    Meddling with the way NIH awards research money (unprecedented).
    Worsening of environmental standards.
    100k tax break for Hummers, 3k tax break for hybrids.
    They freaking took part in Killing the Electric Car!!
    Making gay marriage and flag burning an issue when people are dying.
    Its always a republican that wants intelligent design taught in schools.
     
  5. dbermanmd

    dbermanmd New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Proco @ Oct 11 2006, 02:58 PM) [snapback]331286[/snapback]</div>
    Agreed. If the Dems don't do well this November they will need to blow up the party and start from scratch. That would mean the end for Dean, Hillary, Kerry, Gore, etc - the only question i would have is if they are capable of doing it. If not, 2008 will be a cake walk for the repubs - that is if the Dems do not do well next month.

    I also agree the Dems will have to become more than "we are not Republicans" - they will actually have to formulate a plan and a central message.

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jmccord @ Oct 11 2006, 02:57 PM) [snapback]331285[/snapback]</div>
    That may be - but the Repubs seem to be winning the majority of elections and controlling the houses and executive branches - if they remain in control the SC will have several more openings between now and 2012...

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alric @ Oct 11 2006, 03:03 PM) [snapback]331289[/snapback]</div>
    Exactly - if the Dems do NOT win big next month, they may never win again in their current form - no?
     
  6. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I think this election cycle is critical to the dems too. I don't think it's over for them if we don't get a house back, but they'll be on life support and it'll take a major effort in '08 (be nice if we had a viable candidate coming to the forefront). Failing that, yea, I think there will be a pretty major shift in US politics.

    I think it would be just the shot in the arm the Independent party needs to get a little strength. Once the loyal repubs who are afraid of the social politics of the dems see that they have an option better than the repubs the independents will become viable.
     
  7. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Every time a political party loses big, anywhere, there are plenty of pundits declaring it's all over for them. Their obit is written in a thousand commentators' columns. And then eventually they get a more savvy leader, or the other party screws up, and the "dead" party is in power again.

    The electorate is like King Lear, rushing back and forth to whichever daughter seems to be treating him with less disrespect at the moment, and never realizing that the only honest daughter is the one he disowned because she told him the truth from the beginning.

    If the Democrats lose this election it will be business as usual in politics and government. If they win, it will be business as usual in politics and government. New faces, same story. Either way, the electorate, like King Lear, will run back and forth from one party to the other.
     
  8. dbermanmd

    dbermanmd New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Oct 11 2006, 03:36 PM) [snapback]331309[/snapback]</div>
    I actually joined Perot's party way back as a protest - kind of funny - i am too looking for an alternative - would be nice. I think if the Dems fail this November they will morph into something along the line of that party - they would have to in order to survive. The demographics are just starting to weigh against the Dems and will weigh heavily against them over the next 20-30 years.

    I think a lot of people like me and lots of my family members who are socially liberal but put security/defense/freedom/Israel at the top of out totem pole see the Dems go back to the "days of FDR or Truman or Scoop Jackson" we will all come back. The Dems have gone way to left for us - and obviously for lots of others.
     
  9. jared2

    jared2 New Member

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    If the democrats can't win this November they deserve to be hanged.

    "And my poor fool is hanged. No, no, no life?
    Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, [280]
    And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
    Never, never, never, never, never."
     
  10. Pinto Girl

    Pinto Girl New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Oct 11 2006, 02:54 PM) [snapback]331325[/snapback]</div>
    Gosh, are we referring to the same Democratic Party? I've never really thought of 'em as terribly left leaning.

    Perhaps in comparison to the Republican Party, which has undergone a significant transformation and is now approaching the stature of a pseudo-religous organization.

    Despite accentuating each other's differences, I fear that similarity is what they, primarily, have in common.
     
  11. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    If the Democrats are "too left wing", it's only because your viewpoint is so far to the right.
     
  12. dbermanmd

    dbermanmd New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Oct 11 2006, 03:47 PM) [snapback]331321[/snapback]</div>
    Do you think the Democratic Party of today resembles the Democratic Party of the 1940's-1960's? In the same way i do not think the Republican Party does it was that metamorphasis of the Republican Party of re-inventing itself from a party of isolation and weak defense posture to its current sets of beliefs that have propelled itself into power - and the same shift of the Democratic Party from what it was in the past that cast it as the party of power into its current sets of beliefs that are making it the minority party. If the Dems do not win big and if they do not "blow themselves up and re-invent themselves" what will propel them into power?
     
  13. Pinto Girl

    Pinto Girl New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Oct 11 2006, 03:14 PM) [snapback]331339[/snapback]</div>
    Seems to me that, right now, the Dems define themselves by what they're *not.* Problem is, it's a lot easier to critique than create, but in any case they seem to come off as wishy-washy whiners.

    Also, I think that the Dems seek to unite some wildly disparate factions; the GOP assumes a stance and then (based on one's beliefs) you're either for them or against them.

    Until the GOP moves too far right and alienates a significant portion of voters who are fiscally conservative but liberal on social issues, I don't think there's much the Democrats can do about the situation...unless, as has been said, they 'reinvent' who they are and what they stand for.

    And, since our system favors heavily status quo, I don't think there's much chance of that happening.
     
  14. huskers

    huskers Senior Member

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    The democrates could win if they had any kind of leadership. Leadership has been missing for a long time now!!! :eek:
     
  15. daronspicher

    daronspicher Active Member

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    Americans see the Democrats as weak. I can't think of one that's not a wuss. No 'big brass ones' to protect the homeland while the rest of us selfishly focus on trying to climb over each other to get to the top.

    This election cycle will have a pretty low voter turn out. Low voter turn out typically means lower voter turnout for Democrats than it does for the old guard conservative republicans.

    Which is the only chance for the republicans to win... everyone stays home....

    If the Dem's are going to get control at all, I'd prefer a total sweep in 2008. Ya'll take control all in one day and then we can watch the cities burn with a clear dividing line as to why it is happening. Elections in fall of 2008, turn over of control in January 2009, country in position to surrender to terrorists by November 2009.
     
  16. jburns

    jburns Senior Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Oct 11 2006, 07:34 PM) [snapback]331444[/snapback]</div>
    Times change:Latest CNN Newsweek Poll

    it’s part of a larger loss of faith in Republican leadership, thanks mostly to the war in Iraq. For instance, for the first time in the NEWSWEEK poll, a majority of Americans now believe the Bush administration knowingly misled the American people in building its case for war against Saddam Hussein: 58 percent vs. 36 percent who believe it didn’t. And pessimism over Iraq is at record highs on every score: nearly two in three Americans, 64 percent, believe the United States is losing ground there; 66 percent say the war has not made America safer from terrorism (just 29 percent believe it has); and 53 percent believe it was a mistake to go to war at all, again the first time the NEWSWEEK poll has registered a majority in that camp.


    .
     
  17. rebel6731

    rebel6731 New Member

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    Part of the problem, regarding the House, is the way the districts are drawn. They are drawn to keep the incumbents from getting voted out. Too much gerrymandering going on. In regards to the Senate, unfortunately, the Dems tend to cluster. This means that, for the most part, most Red states tend to be less populated states versus Blue states that tend to be more highly populated.

    Quoting Paul Krugman, "[A] combination of accident and design has left likely Democratic voters bunched together—I'm tempted to say ghettoized—in a minority of Congressional districts, while likely Republican voters are more widely spread out. As a result, Democrats would need a landslide in the popular vote—something like an advantage of 8 to 10 percentage points over Republicans—to take control of the House of Representatives. That's a real possibility, given the current polls, but by no means a certainty."

    Just my two pesos.
     
  18. jmccord

    jmccord New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(huskers @ Oct 11 2006, 05:00 PM) [snapback]331387[/snapback]</div>
    Is it a lack of Democratic leadership or an abundance of Republican 'hot-button' tactics?
    I'm so sick of White House fear mongering masquerading as "leadership".
    Abortion, Al-Qaeda, gay marriage, Osama, Iran, terrorists, North Korea, liberal Democrats, etc.
    Remember - "You're either with us, or against us".
    The Republican message: Be afraid. Be very afraid (and vote for us, because we'll protect you). :unsure:
    Break out the visqueen and duct tape, here comes another biological attack! :blink:
     
  19. Alnilam

    Alnilam The One in the Middle

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    If the Republicans "win" it will prove old P.T. Barnum wrong: You can fool all of the people all of the time!

    Suppose the Democrats win just one seat less in each house than they need for a majority. That's a big increase for them. Do they still "lose?"

    This topic is just a straw man (no reference to the British minister because I don't know Jack about him) set up to cover their butts in case the REPS don't lose quite enough. 'Cause you know they're going to lose.

    The Republicans used to vote for one certain principle: more money would come their way. I can understand this. Everybody wants more money. They were just a little more vicious about it.

    But with the state of our country like it is, if making another $1,000 a year or so buys your vote, you're a whore. There are lots of REPS I could vote for, but the ones who are making America into a dictatorship, or just don't care, are beyond the pale. If things aren't bad enough now to get your attention, then it will take a 10 megaton direct hit.

    It's well past time for cute remarks, sophomoric logic or idealistic dreams. The country is going to hell in a hand basket and unless we, the citizens, take back control in any legitimate way that we can, Democratic, Green, Libertarian, Peace & Freedom. I don't give a damn who, then winning WWII, except for its racial conclusions, won't have made much difference. Even the idealism of the Greens will turn black.

    Pick your pet gotta-have this election. Is gaining this thing important enough to excuse the utter disaster that the last eight years have been in lives ended, freedoms lost and dollars squandered? Can you maybe put aside your qualms about, let's say, gay marriage or flag burning or the military-industrial complex, for just a while as we put out the real fire? Mussolini made the trains run on time. Is that good enough for you?
     
  20. TJandGENESIS

    TJandGENESIS Are We Having Fun Yet?

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jmccord @ Oct 11 2006, 02:57 PM) [snapback]331285[/snapback]</div>
    Agreed.