Remember this Time cover from the 1994 "GOP Stampede?"

[KansDem]

And a "Special Report" no less--



I don't recall a "Democratic Stampede" cover from Time this time around. Instead we get this never-ceasing media-enabled "soul searching" about how the GOP will rise again. Instead we get a never-ceasing media-enabled "accolade to the rising GOP stars."

If ever there was a "stampede," it was the one that is taking place now. And it's not the GOPers doing the stampeding..

[Richardo]

1. 1994 *was* a stampede.

Changed decades of Dem House majority. That's big, when you consider that incumbents are usually re-elected 95+ percent of the time.

[KansDem]

4. I see your point. When you consider the Dems were the majority for decades...

The GOPers pale by comparison with their 14-year "rule." But now they've lost both houses of Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court. I call that a "stampede."

[Terran]

22. Don't count on them 'losing' the Supreme Court anytime soon

Scalia's only 72 I think, Thomas much younger. Those bastards will be hanging in there for at least another 8 years.

[LSdemocrat]

8. Also, unlike 2006 and 2008, the media consensus didn't predict the result

Most "experts" believed that the Democrats would barely hang on to power, but only a very small minority believed that the Republicans would take both houses of Congress with clear majorities.

[Rambis]

2. Contract On America? What happened?

REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA
As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.

That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing, we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.

This year's election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.

Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act "with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right." To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:

* FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
* SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
* THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
* FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
* FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
* SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
* SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
* EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.

Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.

1. THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses. (Bill Text) (Description)

2. THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, "good faith" exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer's "crime" bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools. (Bill Text) (Description)

3. THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility. (Bill Text) (Description)

4. THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children's education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society. (Bill Text) (Description)

5. THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A S500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief. (Bill Text) (Description)

6. THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world. (Bill Text) (Description)

7. THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years. (Bill Text) (Description)

8. THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages. (Bill Text) (Description)

9. THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: "Loser pays" laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation. (Bill Text) (Description)

10. THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators. (Description)

Further, we will instruct the House Budget Committee to report to the floor and we will work to enact additional budget savings, beyond the budget cuts specifically included in the legislation described above, to ensure that the Federal budget deficit will be less than it would have been without the enactment of these bills.

Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this Contract with America

[hootinholler]

9. What a load!

Where did you find that one?

I'd like to see a study of how they did.

-Hoot

[Rambis]

20. google

you can search under big ole crock of shite or contract for america.
Term limits yeah right?
Abortion overturned right?
on and on it should be renamed the list of failures-

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Remember What Newt Said Later

When none of that stuff actually occurred, he was bold enough to say that the contract never promised to do any of that stuff, only to bring it up on the floor of the House.

So, the people who bought that contract stuff were taken in hook, line and sinker. They never had any intention of doing anything on that list.
The Professor

[Rambis]

23. Ding ding ding we have a winner

that is why when the pugs say... We had a do nothing obstructionist congress. Wait a minute! The Republican party had he house,senate and the presidency under *. The evangelicals should have had an epiphany that they were used and their agenda was never in consideration. I hope this is the true unraveling of the republican party and their attempt to legislate morality. With prop 8 passing I am less sure but it is a wake up call that they are still out there and can impact policy even thought their influence may be waning.

[Deep13]

3. Republican Die-a-thon! nt

[gratuitous]

5. I remember the cover

I also remember a columnist (Alexander Cockburn?) for the Nation, who had an article titled "What Landslide?" In it, he detailed just how depressed voter turnout had been in 1994, and how the "landslide" represented the voice of about 23% or 25% of all eligible voters. It went into how the GOP had been very careful to engage their own base with nonsense like the Contract on America, while simultaneously convincing most of the rest of the electorate not to bother with voting. It was pretty masterful politicking, but in terms of reflecting a sea change in the opinions of most Americans, ehhhh, not so much.

For the next several election cycles, though, the GOP continued with their plots to disenfranchise places and groups that were presumed to be majority Democratic, while making sure their own voters turned out. The benefits of incumbency were brought to bear fully on each election, and Republicans maintained their tenuous grip. With the aid of the popular media, however, they always looked and sounded more in control than they actually were. As proof, I point to the fact that next Congress' numbers are more heavily in favor of the Democrats than they ever were for the Republicans between 1994 and 2008.

But no, you won't be seeing any Time magazine covers of a donkey kicking the living piss out of an elephant. Which should tell you something.

[Lasher]

6. Very good summary.

And now here we are. There's not been much about a landslide or mandate for Obama and Congressional Democrats because the media would rather obsess about how Republican Obama needs to be in order to succeed in this center-Republican nation we somehow are, despite election results to the contrary.

[depakid]

7. "how depressed voter turnout had been in 1994"

Hopefully, Obama has learned the lesson from 1994- namely, that if you enable, legitimize and sign off on far right policies- and turn your back on progressives, then your "boots on the ground" will stay home.

[Trailrider1951]

19. Oh, Swampy!

"But no, you won't be seeing any Time magazine covers of a donkey kicking the living piss out of an elephant."

Swamp Rat, you can provide us with this image, even if Time won't. Pretty please? }(

[NoPasaran]

10. Of course, in 2006 there was this

What a mess

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Obviously, this is proof of the liberal media's bias. n/t

[charlie]

12. S'funny about that

is that the 2006 House flip was equally as large as the 1994 rout. PLUS, 1994 was the Republican high water mark in the House, they never saw as large a majority again. In 2008, Dems increased their membership by another 20 or so. Dems are waaay ahead of the Republican Revolution at this same point.

In every measure, from the House, to the Senate, to Governorships, to the Presidency, 2006-8 was a complete restoration of Dem fortunes to what they were in 1992. The entire era of 1994-2008 has been excised from government.

Think the TeeVee and print bobbleheads will ever deign to notice?

[onenote]

14. the 2006 House flip was NOT equally as large as the 1994 rout.

Not sure what your history books say, but mine say that the repubs picked up 54 seats in in 1994 and the Democrats picked up 31 in 2006. THat's hardly "equal". In fact, if you add 2006 and 2008 together, the Democrats essentially match the repubs margin in 1994 alone. And if you look at 1992 and 1994 togethr, the repubs picked up over 60 seats in those two elections. Plus you had the repubs picking up 8 senate seats in 1994, plus one Democrat that immediately switched parties and another that switched a short time later.

We've done extremely well the last two election cycles. And we have essentially regained our position from 1992, although we're still slightly behind the recent high water mark of 1990 (when we had 267 seats in the House). On the other hand, we've regained our position and then some in the Senate, where our recent high water mark was in 1990/1992, when we had 56 seats.

The 1994 election was a transforming election. That transformation has been reversed -- it just took more than one cycle to accomplish it.

[charlie]

16. You measure it in absolute numbers

I measured it in relative numbers, so we're both correct:

Rep-Dem 1994: 230-204
Rep-Dem 2006: 202-233

They're near mirror images. And the Republican lead was reduced in following elections.

Senate -

Rep-Dem 1994: 52-48
Rep-Dem 2006: 49-49 (including 2 ind)

Again, nearly the same.

Rep-Dem 2008: 40-58(possibly 60, including 2 ind)

[onenote]

17. fair enough

Also, I should add that we've flipped back the governorships as well. In 1990 the Democrats had a 28/20 lead in governorships (with 2 indies). The repubs took the lead in governorships in 1994 and had a 28/22 lead going into 2006. But the 2006/2008 elections have reversed that margin and the Democrats now have a 29/21 lead.

[charlie]

18. Yes, it's kind of uncanny

It really IS something like a restoration. Like a do-over where the whistle blows and everybody goes back to their 1992 positions, before the country lost its everloving mind.

[MattBaggins]

25. But but but... it's a center right country dontcha know?

[Kind of Blue]

13. I see what you mean an I'm not being an apologist for the media

But I think the ridiculous cover of a so-called stampede was more about Clinton-hating Republicans and their the nasty and aggressive style, that always gets attention. This time there's a lot more to repair, and we've got an incredibly introspective and dynamic president who our desperate world is counting on. So I don't feel slighted that the media is not putting unreal fluffy stuff on it's covers that the majority of us are not going to believe.

[onenote]

15. Sadly, at the time, that cover was not ridiculous at all.

It certainly felt like a stampede. A lot of Democrats, myself included, felt like we were being steamrollered when the repubs picked up of 54 seats in the House and 8 in the senate (including six sitting Democrats - not open seats) in 1994. The repubs also picked up TWELVE governorships that year. Amd then you had a couple of Democrats (Shelby and Campbell) switch parties -- it really did feel like a stampede.

[still_one]

24. and you never will. time/warner/cnn/aol have lost all jounalist integrity

I wouldn't be surprised if their person of the year would be palin