At times like these, it’s best to remember the words of philosopher Han Solo, or whatever his name turns out to be next: Nice shooting, kid. Don’t get cocky. Cocky is precisely how Democrats find themselves trailing for the first time in a national poll on the 2018 midterms:
That’s quite a shift in just a two-month period — but Democrats only have themselves to blame. Republicans had stepped on their own feet plenty of times in 2017, but they finally managed to pass a major part of their agenda in December with the tax reform package. Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats shrieked that it would literally kill people, prompting protesters in the Senate and House galleries to chant “Kill the bill, don’t kill us.” After it passed and people didn’t LITERALLY DIE, Democrats tried changing the subject by sneering at wage increases and bonuses as “crumbs.” They insisted that workers didn’t get any real benefit, while the workers themselves saw immediate boosts in pay. Multinational corporations announced major reinvestment initiatives in the American economy based on favorable tax conditions for repatriation of overseas capital, precisely as Republicans had predicted. In other words, Democrats argued that people were too stupid to understand that keeping more of their own money was bad … for Democrats. Their collapse in credibility and standing was so predictable that only Democratic leadership could have missed it. Nor is that the only surprising result. Despite a festering West Wing scandal involving an aide accused of domestic abuse and apparent dishonesty in how it was handled, Donald Trump got his first non-negative net approval rating since April:
As CNBC noted earlier this week, that’s a performance-based rating, not a likeability result. Voters may not personally care for Trump, but they certainly like what he’s doing on the economy, and that’s going to drive their voting decisions. Barack Obama had routinely high personal ratings, but he lost two midterm landslides because they didn’t like his policies. That’s the risk Democrats ran on making their midterm message all about Trump; as soon as he was able to show results, his personality became much less of an issue. And the tax reform bill has shown dramatic results, whether Democrats recognize it or not. So why not get cocky? We’re still almost nine months away from the midterms, and lots of things can happen between now and November. There will be gaffes and setbacks, and the economy could still get a shock or two. The midterms are hardly in the bag for either party, or even seriously underway. However, Democrats have squandered both a head start and the credibility normally given to the opposition party in a first midterm, and with Pelosi in charge, it’s tough to see how they change their message or approach over the next nine months. Pelosi may well once again snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but it’s looking more like the other way around. |
Poster Comment:
I think the voters are liking several things.
#1: Gatlin To: Tooconservative, All (#0)
Some will be surprised to learn that the Club for Growth and the Kock Brothers are the two powerful outside sources who have help nurture the political careers of the 37 known members (10/22/2015) of the House Freedom Caucus.
Debts owed are debts to be paid.Gatlin posted on 2018-02-14 17:45:46 Reply Private Reply
#2: Tooconservative To: Gatlin (#1)
So what? The rest of them are the paid whores of the Chamber of Commerce, a den of big-gooberment villainy and theft.
I'll take the Freedom Caucus and the Tea Party pols and libertarian-leaning Republicans over the painted ladies of the Chamber any day.
You should just finally admit it: you are a big-government Republican. Not a conservative by any significant measure.
Tooconservative posted on 2018-02-14 19:29:46 Reply Private Reply
#3: Gatlin To: Tooconservative, All (#2)
Nope, I am not that. I will admit that I finally saw the light and recognized the Freedom Caucus for what it is, A power hungry clique of disruptors whose secret membership operates behind closed doors financed by the Club for Growth and the Koch Brothers in their attempt to control the House because they agreed to operate in unison….knowing that 30 votes will disrupt and destroy anything they don’t want to pass. This rag-tag rabble-rousing House Freedom Caucus was the linchpin in Trump’s attempt tp repeal and replace Obamacare.
They are nothing but a group of agitators that continues to throw out an expanding list of demands and there is little to be done to get some in that group on board with the general Republican House members. They have a loyalty pact to vote as a unit on what the leadership of the Freedom Caucus deems appropriate, even against the wishes and desires of their constituents back home. The Freedom Caucus is such an obstructionist unit that its members are Public Enemy No. 1 on Capitol Hill....even the White House is getting frustrated with them. "They don't know how to get to yes. They just don't. And it's putting the Trump agenda at risk.
It is not a choice of you taking the Freedom Caucus (and forget about the defunct Tea Party….it is no longer of any consequence) over the other House Republicans….it is you taking the Freedom Caucus over the desires and dreams of the multitude of Americans who voted for Trump….fulling expecting him to change Washington politics.
I know that you will valiantly stand with the Freedom Caucus and watch as they assist the never Trump purists kill the dreams of the Americans who voted for Trump….and voted for change. Because of the Freedom Caucus, we now have a House divided. “We have met the enemy….and the enemy is us.”
Gatlin posted on 2018-02-14 20:59:14 Reply Private Reply
#4: Tooconservative To: Gatlin (#3)
Members of the Freedom Caucus, as with most members of any caucus, do hold closed door meetings. As does the Republican majority in the House. This is routine in both parties.
Given that these members of the House all won their own districts by higher percentages than Trump did, they most certainly do have the right and authority to push for the level of spending they want. Trump has only one role: to suggest a budget (which will be DOA on the Hill like always) and to decide whether to sign or veto whatever budget bills Congress sends him. And that is all.
The American system does not trust presidents to hold the public purse. Not Trump, not any of them. That job belongs to the House and always has. That is the main reason they have to stand for election and face the voters every two years.
BTW, you do know that Mick Mulvaney, Trump's current budget director, was a very hardcore member of the Freedom Caucus when he was in the House, just before Trump appointed him? Did you know that, when asked, he said that he would have voted no to this current budget deal?
Don't be so sure that Trump and his top staff are standing just where you think. You just get a boner every time you hear "House Freedom Caucus" or Rand Paul or Justin Amash. Look at your performance on this thread, about the rising poll numbers of the GOP against the Dems, rising from the pits in late December. And the first thing that springs to mind is that this is the perfect chance to hijack this thread with some off-topic rant about the Freedom Caucus.
The Freedom Caucus is living in your head rent-free. If only they were half as powerful as you imagine them to be.
Tooconservative posted on 2018-02-14 21:49:51 Reply Private Reply
#5: Gatlin To: Tooconservative (#4)
Gatlin posted on 2018-02-14 23:55:32 Reply Private Reply