Many of us have been saying this since November 2004. The RATS took off the table their core domestic issues like medicare and education because they can not win on saying that we need more taxes to pay for it. Plus, the only people that will vote for it are their base. They will lose moderates on that as well as gay marriage and abortion.
The RATS tried Culture of Corruption but have been caught in that web also. So that is off the table.
The only thing on the table is foreign policy and more moderates are not in favor of the UN's policies, which have hurt the RATS. In addition, Iraq is not a quagmire, despite what the RATS and the MSM say.
So basically, the RATS have nothing to run on except Bush is a Nazi. While this appeases the base, it does nothing for anyone to the right of Ted Kennedy except put a taste of RAT desperation in their mouths.
Republicans will win more seats. The problem is the RINOS come with the package.
Barone weighing in on the state of the union.
Going back to at least 1930 and perhaps before the nation has been made up of about 1/3 consevatives, 1/3 liberals and about 1/3 moderates. The moderates are often referred to as swing voters. They sometimes vote for Republicans and sometimes for Democrats.. they often do it in the same election.
In the united states there have been since about 1970 about 17 battleground states. Those states are nearly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans with the victors in every election determined by the moderates.
Since moderates determine the winners in those states it should be a surprise to no one that those moderate states almost exclusively elect some combination of RINOs and DINOS.
Typically the house will have about 145 Conservative members, 145 liberal members and 145 members who are some combination of RINOs and DINOs. The senate typically will have about 35 Liberal Members and 35 conservative members and about 30 members who are some combination of RINOs and DINOs.
When Democrat manage to elect enough DINOS to the house and senate and also hold the presidency they can work their will. That is what happened in 1964 and as a result LBJ was able to pass the Great Society progams. It was not hard, the Democrats had a nearly 2 to 1 margin in the house and the same in the senate. Republicans did not have enough votes to even filibuster.
Reagan understood that completely. He knew to get much of anything done he had to elect and work with a lot of RINOs. Who do you think Reagan was talking about when he said speak no ill of a fellow Republican? He was trying to prevent conservatives from trashing RINOS.
Reagan knew the only road to actual victory was to find a way to get RINOs to vote with him on important issues.
Ohio is the quentessential battleground State. It is the land where the RINOs and DINOs control election results.
In Ohio the latest University of Cincinnati poll of registered voters, shows that RINO DeWine is defeating Leftist Brawn by 52 to 44.. DeWine went from a 80 percent ACU rating to a 56 rating this year. DeWine figured out he needs to be a RINO to win. Therefore he is a RINO.
If one looks at the states and the voters who control the outcome there is no way to elect a congress with either a liberal or a conservative majority.
For much of the 1930s and again in 1964 Republicans tried to elect all the conservatives they could elect and defeat all the RINOS they could defeat. That gave the Democrats such a large number of DINOS that they had plenty of votes to do most of what they wanted to do.
Today we have about 35 conservatives and about 20 RINOs in the Senate. What we need are 25 RINOs in the senate.
What happens in that situation is the RINOs vote with you on cloture and then 8 or 9 of them vote against the bill on final passage. But final passage only takes 51 votes while Cloture takes 50, so the bill passes.
RINOS and DINOs have been voting for bills before they vote against them long before Kerry let the cat out of the bag.
The odds that voters will elect 60 conservatives to the Senate are slim and none. The only way is to elect enough RINOs and then find a way to work with them to get things done.
In sports and politics, you have to win with the players you have.
Democrats used to welcome every DINO in site. They worked to get the support of some RINOs as well. But today the Democrats are starting to Trash DINOS. Senator Joe Liberman is a case in point.
If enough Demorats start trashing DINOs and consevatives start trying to work with RINOs we might actually get a conservative agenda passed into law.
But I wouldn't bet a lot on it. Too many conservatives think they are a majority in battle ground states. They somehow think that 35 percent of the voters can cast 51 percent of the votes and they speak ill of fellow Republicans.
Perhaps deep down conservatives do not want to win and implement their agenda. They certainly act like that is their goal. The Good news is todays Democrats are doing the same thing.
"Republicans will win more seats. The problem is the RINOS come with the package."
I am all for the former, and generally hope that you are correct, as long as they aren't predominantly RINOs. Preventing RINOs from being selected in primaries now, when we can elect conservatives instead, is crucial to the GOP's status as the party of choice for conservatives in the long term. There is obviously a division in the ranks as to whether, if a RINO has been selected in the primary, it's better to vote RINO than Rat. The site founder and some others think it's better. I think it's short term better and long term worse, so I'm agin' it.