Posted on 11/05/2014 4:33:32 AM PST by LeoMcNeil
Last night was nothing short of a wave victory for the Republican Party. As of this moment they have officially picked up seven Senate seats, twelve House seats and three Governors offices. They’ve likely picked up a couple hundred state and local offices as well. By the end of today, the GOP is likely to walk away with nine Senate seats. They’re leading in both Alaska and Virginia, though neither have been officially called for the Republicans. Come December, Louisiana is likely to make it +10 for the Republicans when Mary Landrieu is voted out in a run off. In the House, there are a number of west coast seats that haven’t been decided yet. They could still pick up another seat or two.
No one expected Virginia to be in play last night yet it appears that the Republicans have flipped the seat. Let’s face it, when the early returns showed the Republicans up in Virginia we knew it was going to be a big night. The other state that suggested a big night for Republicans was Kentucky. Mitch McConnell isn’t great but there was concern a few weeks ago that he might lose his race. Even last week polls showed him up by only 5-7 points. He won by 15. Yes, Kentucky is a deep red state. However, the Democrats targeted McConnell and for all the money they spent they didn’t come away with even a remotely competitive race. This signaled a Republican wave, which is of course exactly what we got.
Two questions remain about this election. The first is what exactly are the Republicans going to do with control of the Senate? Mitt Romney, trying his best to depress Republican votes, claimed amnesty was going to be passed by a Republican Senate. If the establishment wants a party civil war, that issue will be first on the agenda. Will the Republicans send an Obamacare repeal bill to the President, forcing a veto out of him? One thing the GOP should do is end the practice of sending the President one giant omnibus spending bill. Instead they should send him two dozen smaller spending bills funding each agency. Doing this would allow the GOP to play games with the budget without the threat of the President shutting down the whole government. What the Republican agenda is going to be remains largely a mystery.
The other question is what Obama’s response will be today. No doubt he’ll begin his speech in soaring platitudes about bipartisanship. Odds are the speech will descend into threats of unilateral action if Congress remains “gridlocked” or otherwise refuses his agenda. Obama has a tendency towards a lack of graciousness or perhaps better put he tends towards backhanded graciousness. Obama is going to attempt to do things unilaterally. It’s up to the Congress to refuse to fund Obama’s unilateral actions. Congress controls the purse, not the President. An issue like unilateral amnesty is a serious threat to Constitutional government. Even pro-amnesty Republicans need to actively oppose Obama’s unilateral actions as a threat to our Constitutional government. If Obama’s going to go that far, and he has on other issues, the GOP Senate needs to be prepared to fight him.
The fun of beating the Democrats is over. Now the Republicans have to start governing. The 2016 Presidential race begins in earnest today. If the Republicans cannot offer to the country any plan for governing, they aren’t going to win the White House. Their best shot is to pass meaningful bills on the economy and health care. If the President vetoes them, then it’s on him not Congress. A modest tax cut, modest spending cuts, a repeal of Obamacare or a complete gutting of Obamacare, these are all bills that the Republicans must get through Congress in the next six months. No doubt the House will pass these bills, they’ve passed dozens that have died in Harry Reid’s Senate. Now it’s up to the Republicans in the Senate to send these bills to Obama.
No matter what, for the moment, it’s absolutely delicious to savor the rebuke of Democrats (Progressives/Communists)at the polls.
IMHO
“They’re leading in...Virginia”
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Does he know something I can’t find?
Now we need to start flooding Obama with conservative legislation. When he vetos it left and right we can run in 2016 on the “do-nothing democrats”.
I think we can plan on the Democratic party becoming the new party of no. I think that could be useful.
Why not share power with the dems in the senate?
When this was initially written Gillespie was up in Virginia, he’s now apparently down. Still, that it was even close is amazing.
I know that trick.
“A Republican Wave...”
Nope...No way...It was a mere ripple....
Don’t believe me? Juan Williams said so last night on FOX...
If Juan said it, it MUST be true...right???
RIIIIIIIIIIIGHT....
Yeah, that’s not correct. Gillespie might get a recount but he is behind. Thanks to Sarvis the Spoiler.
How many liberals have the Libertarians elected over the years?
If you can’t break 10%, decade after decade, what are you doing besides electing people who are diametrically opposed to your party?
He would have won with a little more money, and if people didn’t piss away their vote on a Libertarian without a prayer of winning to “ make a point” or because They demand purity.
Too many here have that Kamikaze Konservative attitude....
I like the word “mandate” too.
The Dims were fond of using it a few years back. Can we?
Last I saw Ed was down over 12K votes.
Elections have consequences Obama, and like you said before, WE won, so get over it.
Here’s the thing...You may not like the republican running, but voting for the candidate that has no chance is not only allowing the dem to win, but also keep maybe a majority in whichever part of Congress they are running.
Vote for the candidate of the party you have stronger affiliation with...get THEM the majority...even if the guy you don’t like is there, the others, such as Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, etc will have more power as a majority member...
Time to bring this song back
We Must Take America Back - Steve Vaus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0eoE9mi9iw
We have to hold the new gop feet to the fire and NOT let them run wild and loose both houses like they did under GWB and get greedier than the demoRATS.
To which the President would respond I’m President get over it. The issue in the next two years is likely to be Presidential power, in particular his power to decide matters of policy unilaterally.
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