General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI don't think that Republicans think they can win the White House
in the foreseeable future, but I also think that they know they can control the direction of the country on economic issues, without holding more than the House- though they'd love the Senate.
Look how successful repukes have been on the state and national level on influencing policy with just the House.
Republicans are very good at making one outrageous demand after another and then "settling" for getting what appears to be much less, but what is clearly a big win for them. Look at taxes, at corporate favoring policies, at cuts to the social safety net. Repubs have won and dems have lost repeatedly over the past few years. And it's been just incremental enough for them to get away with it without having to pay a heavy political price, no matter how grotesque their candidates are.
This is the trajectory we're on. It's delusional to think that progressive policies are winning outside of marriage equality.
Education? Nope.
Unemployment benefits? Nope.
Abortion rights? I have four letters for you: TRAP
Diminishing the influence of corporate money and influence? Wrong direction.
The Environment: Nope.
Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm just a killjoy. A sourpuss. A radical purist blah blah blah.
MineralMan
(146,189 posts)of Congress. How does that sound to you? That's what I'm about.
GOTV 2014 and Beyond!
cali
(114,904 posts)and I'd like to see it. I think it'll take more than one election cycle, but I'll be making calls (in other states) for GOTV.
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)And you would have to be able to make a lot of low information FOX-watching poor GPOers to understand that they are no more cared about by the GOP than the rest of us.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Underestimate the GOP at your own risk is what I say.
cali
(114,904 posts)they've been far more successful at achieving goals as laid out in their national platform than dems have been at achieving the goals laid out in the Dem national platform.
sadoldgirl
(3,431 posts)that people are still too well off in comparison to let's say 1930? I find it rather interesting that many people stay willfully ignorant, because it takes some effort to inform yourself. Yes, we have to try for 2014, but somehow our messages appear always to be either overly defensive or "blahblahblah". I wished we had a liberal Luntz.
cali
(114,904 posts)and I actually think it's not that easy to be well informed. there's such a plethora of misinformation constantly being issued by the media that it's more difficult to be accurately informed than you seem to think.
I agree that democrats often fail at messaging and that the defensive element is significant in that failure.
kimbutgar
(20,871 posts)I spent 5 days in arizona recently and I couldn't get over the hatred for democrats and the president. I live in California and it was like being in a different world. The talk radio is Rush, Sean , levin and Christian radio all over the airwaves bashing the president and the evil liberals who want to tax them to death and sponge off their hard earned miney. A lot of commuters locked in their cars hostage to the right wing media. My sister in law and her 4 adult kids are a lost cause. Obamacare is evil. They refuse to look at the healthcare.gov website and all have medical debt and pay high premiums. My sister in law told me she was middle class making $22,000 a year in her $12 an hour job. They are struggling and blaming president Obama and the Democrats for obstructing the republicans in congress from creating jobs nd not repealing the job killing Obamacare.
Driving back to California over 2 days was all right wing radio on the am dial ( tried to find Randi Rhodes) Luckily we had satellite radio which has 3 right wing stations and only 1 liberal one. I want to hope more people wake up but I m worried about the Senate now.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)The electoral math just isn't there--unless they can conjure up another Ronald Reagan to convince hordes of people to vote against their best interests. That seems unlikely at the moment.
-Laelth
Response to cali (Original post)
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kentuck
(110,947 posts)To veto every piece of crap the House passes and can tell the American people why?
We don't need someone that is willing to accept a half bucket of crap and act like it's a compromise.