People don't like Republicans

[WI_DEM]

Hove I ever told you no one likes Republicans? Actually, I think I have. These are data that poll after poll shows us, and on Sunday, Chris Cillizza rounds up some recent ones. Cillizza:

There is no great affection for the Republican Party in this country, a senior Obama administration official said last week. That creates the opportunity for competitive races district by district.

The official noted that the GOP's unpopularity marks a critical difference between the election this November and 1994, when the party's sweep of more than 50 seats won it the majority in the House for the first time in 40 years. Then, the official argued, Republicans had been out of power for more than four decades and voters were ready to try something different. This time, voters know what they would be getting with Republicans in charge and don't like it, the source said.

AP Congressional approval/disapproval
Dems 38/60
Reps 31/68

CBS/NY Times, 9/15

Dems 30/58
Reps 20/68

ABC/WaPo, deserve reelection

Dems 34
Reps 31

www.dailykos.com

[vaberella]

1. They don't seem to like us much either. n/t

[Vincardog]

2. Could it be because we have been acting too much like Republicans?

[vaberella]

3. That...or because we don't speak eloquently on what we're doing.

Which is what I think is our problem. Dems don't elaborate properly on their causes and why they do what they do. Take for instance the denigration of the health care debate until Obama took charge. As for acting like Republicans...we do a lot of things to accommodate republicans so we can avoid a filibuster in the senate and push things through. If we didn't do things that had more "republican" motivation NOTHING would have gone through. Everyone should be aware of that right now. That's why I don't like listening to the argument that Dems are too far right or Obama is. seriously, everything Obama wanted has gotten NOs, and the only time yes is when we could get Snowe on board because we have states with Repubs who will adamantly push against any agenda Obama may have. Even if the American people support it. Obama again is up against Blue Dog dems = Repubs in wolfs clothing, Conservadems= scary repubs in wolfs clothing, and Repubs---who don't want to push anything he has. So even if Dems had the right idea there are Dems alike and Repubs who will shove it in their face and find a way to undermine it.

[Kdillard]

4. Amen.

[Vincardog]

6. It might HELP if the Democrats had fought for our Democratic Platform, I do not think eloquent

speech was the deficit. Democratic ACTION was,

What value were those compromises when we had to pass "health INSURANCE" reform through reconciliation without ANY GOP votes anyway?

That's why I don't like listening to the argument that Obama has done all he can.

Obama campaigned and said "I will veto any HEALTH CARE bill that reaches my desk without a PUBLIC OPTION".

He threw Universal Single Payer and the Public option under the bus and decided the purpose of the bill was to ensure no INSURANCE COMPANY was harmed.

I do not care for any of the BLUE/NEW Dogs or whatever name the Republicans in our party care to call themselves.

If that sounds like a call for PURITY; SO BE IT. WE cannot and will not take the RADICAL steps necessary to save our republic by cow towing to the right rich 1%

[vaberella]

8. Let me be clear. I said eloquent when I mean clear speech.

If Dems were clear and transparent on their agenda, we wouldn't have any problems. We wanted to avoid reconciliation in the first place---because we'd need a vote on that and please that's a weak argument since reconciliation wouldn't have passed. We had Conservadems who were blatantly against reconciliation---this is not news. Conservadems are numbered at 13 of the 51 votes we needed. Pushing for reconciliation was even an empty threat. It wouldn't have even passed. Everyone knows this. We have or had 59 Senators at the time...I'm counting Kennedy, which I probably shouldn't count. But even if give or take 8 or 9. We still have about 4/5 more pushing into the 51---resulting us having a deficit so all we have left is 46/47 votes. Means no health insurance. And many Conservadems were really against the bill with the public option which was being pushed, at least verbally at the time.

As I stated very clearly----the problem is Obama is up against Conservadems and Bluedogs. This is not all Obama here. Obama doesn't vote on these bills. HE doesn't. WE have congressional officials who do the voting. And yeah not all DEmocrats are on board. And there's nothign we can do. All we can do is actually vote out the Dems who are around and put others who are more progressives. Beyond that, hes hindered. Do you honestly think if we had 59 progressive Dems we wouldn't have single payer!? Please, that would have been the first thing. OR at least have 51 progressives dems in Congress things wouldn't have gotten done?! Sure it would have. But we don't. We have 13 fools made up of Blanche Lincoln, Evan Baye and so on----we're going to be in a mess. This needs to be understood.

I know he said that, and he clearly also said there was no vote for public option. He ended up with no vote and we needed to get health care done. If we didn't get any health care we wouldn't have had a chance again. And if Repubs win the seats we most definitely will not

You should care about the Blue dogs, New Dogs and Conservadems. They're the ones who are voting on our laws that get our president just signs. Just the mere fact taht you don't care just makes your entire argument moot. These are the people who are the most important and who make the direct changes that we want. I don't know what this cow towing to the rich 1% is...because Obama is already letting the Bush tax breaks die out. So I don't know where this argument is coming from. He also already raised some taxes on the rich and gave tax breaks to the poor. So I don't get your point. Anyway you don't seem to have one....our Congressional office is our biggest problem and you toss it to the side and want to blame Obama when they are the crutch to his blockage on things.

[Vincardog]

10. Obama bears NO responsibility? Why did he campaign FOR Blanche Lincoln in the primary costing us a

progressive candidate? I have been fighting the Blue dog/New/Conservadems forever.
Where you argument breaks down is that Obama is one of them.
Don't think so? Look at his Cabinet.
Was I not clear when I said it would help if our Democratic representatives worked FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM?

[w4rma]

16. When the DLC is in charge they *don't* want to elaborate properly on our causes.

Because they want to sneak in anti-populist, pro-big business clauses and water down anything that might help Main Street and hurt Wall Street.

[Cosmocat]

17. No

Dems 38/60
Reps 31/68

CBS/NY Times, 9/15

Dems 30/58
Reps 20/68

ABC/WaPo, deserve reelection

Dems 34
Reps 31

Polling favorability is between 30 and 38 - pretty much right around or a tick above what would be an estimate of registered Ds ... Ds like Ds, Rs hate Ds, and everyone in between R and Ds generally hate both ...

Sorry, this is more of eating your own BS that has the party in a tougher spot going into this election than it should ...

[Enthusiast]

7. It's the blue dogs they don't like. nt

[vaberella]

9. And Conservadems. n/t

[totodeinhere]

5. You should change the OP to "People don't like either party." n/t

[AspenRose]

11. There's some truth to that

There are more independents than republicans or democrats.

[11 Bravo]

12. That only seems fair. Republicans don't like people, either (unless they're rich and white).

[littlewolf]

13. I think congress as a 7% approval rating ... maybe wrong...

[backscatter712]

14. That's one of the big differences between today and '94.

Back in '94, the GOP had a somewhat respectable reputation - poll numbers were a lot higher than today, so when the Democrats fell apart, they were able to hold themselves together and get a wave election.

Today, sure, the Dems are hurt, but the GOP's not faring well either - they've still got a severely damaged brand thanks to George W. Bush. They may have mitigated that somewhat with the Tea Party, but they might not get much mileage given the heavy amount of crazy in the Teapublicans today, and the now-building ad campaigns highlighting GOP candidates' most batshit positions.

The GOP won't be able to take the Senate - it's almost mathematically impossible, and while it looks like they're going to take the House now, there's still plenty of election season left, and if the Dems can continue attacking the GOP for being batshit insane, the GOP's previously booming poll numbers will continue to erode, and their wave may fizzle.

[Mefistofeles]

15. Voters sometimes make big mistakes

They elected Bush once. Let's hope they wake up.