Posted on 08/31/2010 4:37:53 PM PDT by neverdem
This Politico piece by Jim VandeHei, Alex Isenstadt, and Mike Allen got a lot of play last week:
Top Democrats are growing markedly more pessimistic about holding the House, privately conceding that the summertime economic and political recovery they were banking on will not likely materialize by Election Day.
In conversations with more than two dozen party insiders, most of whom requested anonymity to speak candidly about the state of play, Democrats in and out of Washington say they are increasingly alarmed about the economic and polling data they have seen in recent weeks.
They no longer believe the jobs and housing markets will recover -- or that anything resembling the White House's promise of a "recovery summer" is under way. They are even more concerned by indications that House Democrats once considered safe -- such as Rep. Betty Sutton, who occupies an Ohio seat that President Barack Obama won with 57 percent of the vote in 2008 -- are in real trouble.
There is no mention of health care reform in this piece. The economy is referenced several times. So is the President's inability to control the narrative. Even the Ground Zero Mosque is mentioned as a reason why the House is now in jeopardy. But not health care.
It has become conventional wisdom that the decline of the Democrats has mostly to do with the economy and little - if anything - to do with health care. This is Jonathan Alter from Saturday:
Health-care reform was seen by many cable chatterers as shaping the outcome of the November midterm elections but almost certainly won't. Nor will the flap over the planned mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero. To make sure, Obama defended the constitutional principle at stake, but backed off on the specific...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Obamacare.
Cap and Trade.
Union payoffs.
Using TARP funds to benefit the UAW and shaft the secured creditors of GM.
Card Check.
A botched $900 billion dollar stimulus that was little more than a huge subsidy to groups and causes favored by Democrats.
9.6% unemployment.
The legal assault on Arizona.
The extortion of $25 billion from BP.
The refusal of the Justice Department to prosecute the New Black Panther Party and to cooperate with the United States Civil Rights Commission's investigation into that refusal.
Amnesty for illegals without Congressional authority.
A financial reform bill that includes several new beauracracies, makes a number of changes that are neutral to bad for the economy, and fails to address some of the most significant causes of the crash.
Letting the enemy know we have a deadline to withdraw from battle.
Abusing Israel.
Apologizing to the Arabs.
Two really bizarre appointments to the Supreme Court.
I'm sure I've missed some, but the list is so long, an omission or two is inevitable.
Boy I hope so! If anything should endanger the Democrats, this mess should. In a scramble to pass something, they have let people like Nancy Pelosi talk them into passing something that will ‘still’ the Democratic Party for a long time. The bath they will take on November 2, 2010 should convince them, but the Validictorian (by now everybody knows who we are talking about) will convince them that they should ‘stay the course’. Keep watching. You’ll get convinced.
Democrats have been exposed as communists.
It’s a healthcare TAKEOVER, not healthcare reform.
That’s why so many people are pissed off.
They'll be fine. Every single RAT who voted for Commiecare™ is exempt from it.
BREAKING NEWS ON MSNBC////Obama surrenders to Osama Bin Ladin in the interest of World Peace.
To pay more for health insurance to a government that can say you can’t see the doctor strikes even some liberals as unacceptable.
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