WHEN DEMOCRATS OVERREACH - (Reid's threat to shut down business isn't going to fly with voters)

WASHINGTON TIMES.COM ^ | MAY 19, 2005 | Gary J. Andres

[CHARLITE]

Sometimes things are not as they appear peering through the legislative looking glass. Congress increasingly has an "Alice in Wonderland" feel to it, where statements by lawmakers and activists create a strange dissonance and legislative reality that is out of sync with political rhetoric. Yet because their press releases represent the authorized voice of the opposition, Democratic Party leaders' idiom has an aura of validity — however phony. There is a method to the madness. Democrats are laying political sod, preparing the ground for the 2006 congressional elections. Call it "project overreach"; like many aspects of the Democratic Party these days, it's not a new idea — but whether it works is another story.

The present undertaking has clear antecedents. Harkening back to 1993 — the last time Democrats enjoyed unified government controlling the House, Senate and White House — they believe it was the "overreach" theme that ultimately led to the 1994 Republican Revolution, when the Republican Party took over Congress. So turnabout is fair play, right? Last week the Wall Street Journal reported the "Democratic Senate campaign sends video to several hundred thousand supporters testing the theme of Republican overreach. 'Nearly everything that voters are hearing out of Washington raises doubts about how Republicans are running the place,' says Democratic pollster Geoff Garin." A new Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ad charges Republicans are "out of control" and that every time they don't get their way, "they change the rules." House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California joined in last week, saying "Republicans are engaged in an abuse of power." Democrats hope to seize back lost gavels and majority status by pounding on Americans' aversion to centralized power and our affinity for checks and balances.

[American Quilter]

Reid's now assuring the media that "the Democrats won't shut down the govt like the Republicans did in 1995." The Dems know full well that would be catastrophic for their cause, as would holding an actual filibuster.

[Nyboe]

the dems can't shut squat down.

all the republicans have to do is change the rules regarding when committees can meet, problem solved.

[GianniV]

Harry Reid is a homo.

[goldstategop]

The problem with the "overreach" thesis is there's nothing to support it. All Republicans want is a vote on the President nominees. There's nothing anti-democratic or unconstitutional about the demand. Its only playing fair. The minority can make its case to the public that the President's choices shouldn't be confirmed. So far the public hasn't bought the Democrats' arguments. And there's the singular fact the Democrats don't have one positive message to present to the American people. Its a constant drumbeat of negative litany. In the end, the Democrats will learn in '06, as they have in the last several elections before, that they can't beat something with nothing. So far they still have yet to register they lost last November and are no longer running the show.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[stitches1951]

The fact that McCain has support, even if only in Arizona (but, unfortunately, not true) bears out that Republicans are far from united. I'm more afraid of us loosing to them then I am of them beating us. Too often, the old refrain "throw the bums out" has held sway. All the dems need do is show the weakness of the GOP. Some of the "grassfire" organizations are trying to influence dems with a fax campaign. They aren't the target who needs convincing, its weak-kneed republicans who don't know they are the majority.