How Did Democrats Get Here?

[FBaggins]

We talked this morning about the Democrats’ poor electoral position — already shaky, it is probably now deteriorating further — but we haven’t talked as much about why they’re in this predicament. This is for a good reason: once you get past the premise that the state of the economy plays a large role (something that pretty much everyone would agree with) this is a very difficult question to answer.

The reasons for the Democrats’ decline are, as we say in the business, overdetermined. That is, there are no lack of hypotheses to explain it: lots of causes for this one effect. The economy? Sure. Unpopular legislation like health care? Yep. Some “bad luck” events like the Gulf Oil Spill? Mmm-hmm. The new energy breathed into conservatives by the Tea Party movement? Uh-huh.

And this hardly exhausts the theories. An inexperienced White House which has sometimes been surprisingly inept at coping with the 24/7 media cycle? The poor optics associated with Democrats having had a filibuster-proof majority in theory, but not always in practice? All of the above.

...snip...

For this reason, there is reason to be skeptical of two types of analyses: those that claim that Factor X definitely isn’t contributing to the Democrats’ troubles, and those that assert that it definitely is.


http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/how-did-democrats-get-here/#more-487

[RandomThoughts]

1. What do you call Factor X?

Can you explain what Factor X is?

If not why use it in a sentence? And why can't you explain what it is.



There are some people that have attached 'factor x' to getting rid of democrats, which is pretty comical. In that equation, Democrats would be cardboard cut outs at best.

You can only do what you can do, and who does each thing they do, is each persons choices.

Just like people chose to have a public option, and higher taxes on the rich. So really where is the fault again?


On a side note, I am still due financing for travel and beer.

[FBaggins]

2. "X" is a variable.

In this case it represents "whatever the advocate claims is the big reason"

An example he gives is some on the right who would like to associate democrats' decline with HCR.

[pscot]

3. We were led here

But w're not supposed to talk about that.

[RandomThoughts]

4. That is your prison.

[pscot]

5. No. It's not.