nationalreview.com/campaign- … m-geraghty
I think this article captures my attitude fairly well. None of my friends know that Benghazi is about, you guys didn't create a single thread about the IRS Scandal. My impression is that only the die-hards know what's actually going on in the country, Obama does whatever he wants regardless of what Congress says, and that isn't going to change until he's out of office.
did you read the interesting part, the comments.
read them. They are very, very interesting.
Kropotkin
And you think it is going to change afterwards?
Not necessarily, that’s for sure. I’m not one of those that thinks all politicians are the same, but I also don’t think the badness is limited to one party either. The problem is, the scandals and treachery is so obvious now that if there aren’t consequences, it really will prove that politicians can get away with anything even if they are caught. But I didn’'t create this thread to discuss political science in the broadest possible brush. I’m specifically interested in the question of if Republicans gaining a bunch of Congressional seats, as seems likely, is something conservatives ought to be excited about. Personally, the IRS scandal is of such magnitude to me that I can’t muster much excitement for getting greater legislative representation of my interests when a branch of the Gov’t that is beyond election can just shut my interests down illegally and not face consequences. About the only light I see at the end of the tunnel is that with enough GOP people in power, Koskinen, Obama, Holder, Learner, and etc. might actually be punished for what they’ve done.
Perhaps it depends if you think Jeb Bush in office is something to be excited about. 
Benghazi and the IRS scandal? That’s really “what’s actually going on in the country” to you?
Congress won’t let Obama do anything if and when they are capable of stopping him, everyone knows that. Most Republicans think the only job of Congress at this point is to thwart the president wherever possible. Although gaining some congressional seats isn’t really going to help them do that very much, it’s still a morale boosting symbolic victory for them, as they will convince themselves it is the start of some greater momentum going into 2016. False confidence.
The real issue is neither either political parties or congress nor Obama. They are not the cause what is happening, but merely the symptoms of the decease.
The real cause is that very system that made lobbying a valid business. Unless, that will not be addressed, nothing is going to change, no matter which party comes to power or who becomes the president.
UPF, if GOP puts any young female or non-white candidate forth in the next election, it will give Democratic candidate a fair run of his money. No white candidate is going to win next presidential election form either parties.
I think that Bobby Jindal is an excellent choice and so are Nikki haley and Susana Martínez. Though, It is highly unlikely that GOP will go for any female candidate. Jindal is not white but not typical black either. I think that they can settle for him as he is at least a male.
with love,
sanjay
Not really, no. But it’s all relative, right? Jeb Bush isn’t that appealing in a hypothetical where I can pick someone else. But if it’s him or Hillary, he suddenly looks a lot better.
UPF, the IRS scandal is a big deal. It doesn’t cease to be a big deal just because it’s happening to people you don’t like. If it was happening to liberals under a GOP president, we’d have to give PK his own section of the forums for all the threads he’d be creating about it. Anyway, Obama’s popularity and estimation of his success by the public is comparable to that of Bush, so it’s no surprise that the opposition party would be trying to thwart what their constituents consider to be hideously bad ideas.
Ucc, the IRS was responding to a large increase in people trying to start shady non-profits. If it was the other way around and left wingers were doing it, I feel like you’d argue the other way as well.
Benghazi was a cia op. It went wrong. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s the idiots on the ground who let the cat outta the bag. What happens when a spy doesn’t do his job well? They should be fired.
I do think that it matters if conservatives make gains in mid term elections, because it will strengthen their ability to obstruct legislation that the majority of Americans can benefit from, and it’ll make it easier for them to pass legislation that serves the small minority of rich people that they seem to work for.
I think if the nation is supposed to be one that’s of, by and for the people, that we ought to assume they mean, “for the majority of the people”, if it’s between that and “a small minority of people who have undue political influence and enjoy a great deal of privilege”.
On another note…Did you see the brawl that Sarah Palin’s family got into when they were being kicked out of a party in Alaska? Read around and look at the accounts of their behavior, and ask yourself, “are these kinds of people fit to be leaders?”
And about “a branch of the government that’s not elected shutting down your interests”…how is that different from an branch of government that is elected going and giving the power to private parties to shut down your interests?
K: actually at this time, mid terms in bush’s term (2008) he was around 35% and dropping like a rock.
by the end of his term, he was around 22%. (according to Gallup)
google Obama’s approval rating
and most have him from 45% to 50%
so no, they didn’t have the same approval.
Kropotkin
Maybe, idk, but it’s just fodder for partisan attacks either way. i don’t think it’s a big deal except in the eyes of Republicans looking to smear the president.
Look, as much as Republicans want the Obama presidency to be a catastrophe, it hasn’t been. Well, it’s been a catastrophe for Republicans, but not for the country. Inevitably, Obama failed to live up to the hype, but the country is still better off now than it was six years ago when Bush ended his second term.
Alright, so I don’t get to have a conversation about conservative perspectives on the mid-term elections then. Sorry I referenced the fact that some people are Republicans. My bad.
Republicans are going to do well in the mid term elections. The House will be even more anti-Obama than it already is. The Senate may swing the same way. Hell, even here in MA, bluest of the blue states, Democrat Martha Coakley is poised to lose her SECOND high profile election to a Republican candidate (this time for governor) - and there will probably be election upsets similar to that scattered across the country. It will be at least a decent showing for the party of pachyderms this time out. However, i don’t think that will amount to much in terms of changing the direction the country is going. Obama will still be the most powerful person in the US, and the mid terms aren’t likely to help Republicans uncover any smoking guns with which to nail him regarding Benghazi or the IRS. Hillary’s shadow still looms large over 2016, and unless her prospective competition gets suddenly unearthed in the course of the next month, then the mid-terms aren’t going to change THAT either. All in all, i think Republican gains next month will be indicative of typical mid term gains by the opposition party that you see with most second term presidents.
K: for democrats the whole thing revolves around the turnout. High turnout, dems hold serve,
low turnout and the GOP gains.
However the demographics are pretty clear, the GOP as is cannot survive any longer. It must broaden
its base or die. simple as that. It cannot continue to its appeal to old white guys,
(btw, I am the old white guy the GOP is trying to hold) and survive because the fact is, old white guys
are dying. Your base group is dying off and the GOP is not replacing it with gains with any other group.
Latino’s would be the logical group to go after but the GOP hatred of any different then old white guys,
comes into play. A women voting GOP would be insane given the GOP clear and obvious hatred of women.
and any minority voting for the GOP would also be voting for a party that hates them. Why would anyone
in their right mind vote for a party that actively works against them is beyond me. I suspect this election
is the last gasp of the GOP as we know it. Even a state like texas is starting to turn blue because
of demographics. I suspect 2016 will be a disaster for the GOP unless something dramatic happens and
2020 will be even worse for the GOP. They lack leaders and they lack policy, two aspects that
doom them to irrelevance. I foresee another conservative party rising replacing the GOP, maybe
even two parties because the GOP has two irreconcilable parts, the social conservative and the
fiscal small government conservative. Those two cannot coexist because of conflicting values.
So we will see the end of the GOP soon and then from the ashes will rise a new party.
Kropotkin
I tend to agree. There’s a trend where conservatives are poised to win big, and they aren’t that excited about it. My impression is that between the scandals and Obama being Obama, there’s not a lot of sense that it matters much.