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How Bad Will It Be? [Fred Barnes]
Weekly Standard ^ | 10/23/2006 | By Fred Barnes

Posted on 10/14/2006 4:34:21 AM PDT by johnny7

REPUBLICANS and conservatives, brace yourselves! Strategists and consultants of both parties now believe the House is lost and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi will become speaker. At best, Republicans will cling to control of the Senate by a single seat, two at most. For many election cycles, Republicans have been the boys of October, using paid media and superior campaign skills to make up lost ground and win in November. This year, they were the boys of September, rallying strongly until that fateful day, September 29, when the Mark Foley scandal erupted. October has been a disaster so far. A strong finishing kick for Republicans, minimizing Democratic gains, is possible. They pulled one off brilliantly in President Bush's first midterm election in 2002. But recovery will be harder this time, a lot harder.

The press is fixated on the so-called generic ballot--Do you want a Democratic or Republican Congress?--as an indicator of Republican setbacks on November 7. But that gauge has rarely been predictive. Two others are more reliable: presidential approval and party enthusiasm. And they tell an ominous story for Republicans about the difference between 2002 and 2006.

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: barnes
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To: freespirited

Many of us couldn't believe the negetivity around here last election when the world was ending over the polls. Deje vu?

And yes we will pick up some seats as I predicted last election. Fool me once, shame on you...

Pray for W and Our Troops


101 posted on 10/14/2006 6:53:11 AM PDT by bray (Voting for the Rats is a Death Wish)
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To: veronica
Tricks that is. (I have a habit of posting before actually reading what I typed) :-D
102 posted on 10/14/2006 6:54:38 AM PDT by #1CTYankee (That's right, I have no proof. So what of it??)
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To: veronica
There is a very good chance that there will be one or two openings for SCOTUS in the next 2 years, we wont have a chance of another conservative judge if President Bush is under siege by a RAT congress.

USSC judges are forever, you can't change that in two years!
103 posted on 10/14/2006 6:54:47 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Demonrats want the Gays out of Congress.....stand back and let them purge their base.)
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To: Beagle8U

BBL


104 posted on 10/14/2006 6:58:52 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Demonrats want the Gays out of Congress.....stand back and let them purge their base.)
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To: bray
Many of us couldn't believe the negetivity around here last election when the world was ending over the polls. Deje vu?

Well, I was here and I don't recall any widespread view that the world was ending. The polls showed that the race was close. It was.

105 posted on 10/14/2006 6:59:30 AM PDT by freespirited (The MSM is the root of all evil.)
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To: Grut
Think of Marines in a Sadr City firefight running out of ammo because charly rangel(D) is the new chairman of the Ways and Means committee.

Remember Mogadishu?

106 posted on 10/14/2006 7:04:43 AM PDT by dingoMcgill
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To: johnny7

Fred has the question right and the parties wrong: "How bad will it be . . . for DEMOCRATS" . . . when they lose a seat in the Senate and possibly 1-5 in the House. If they don't gain control of both, and if they lose seats, you will see a bloodbath in the Dem Party like you've never witnessed.


107 posted on 10/14/2006 7:06:39 AM PDT by LS
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To: johnny7
When the GOP retain control of both Houses the reality of the strength of the internet will hit them right between the eyes.

It will serve as the death knell of the MSM's lock on power.

108 posted on 10/14/2006 7:06:52 AM PDT by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
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To: johnny7; All

Everybody needs to listen to what Rush has been saying lately: "What if the dems lose" ..?? Now, several other people have joined in that conversation. And .. even one brave sole on the liberal side has made public that the dems are very conflicted - very divided - and have no clear leader (which means not every liberal is rooting for Hillary).

Fred Barnes is usually pretty level headed about this stuff .. but I think Fred is way off the mark here.

It looks like the beltway has already forgotten about the "silent majority" - and we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore. I agree with Rush .. the American public will vote for national security/economy issues .. and while the MSM will not report it .. most polls to evengelicals asking about Foley were a surprise (to the MSM). They blamed Foley and not the GOP. Since that answer didn't fit the MSM's template - it was quickly shoved under the bus.

FOLEY IS A NON-ISSUE TO REPUBS!!

We know how the dems are .. why are we expecting anything different from them this election year. They always try to make their people believe they're going to win everything - and they end up losing and losing big. I still remember seeing Carville with a garbage can on his head. I'm expecting the same this time. Once again, the left is believing their own skewed polls.


109 posted on 10/14/2006 7:07:28 AM PDT by CyberAnt (Drive-By Media: Fake news, fake documents, fake polls)
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To: johnny7

...and exit polls NEVER lie!


110 posted on 10/14/2006 7:08:24 AM PDT by NordP (America: There are more Patriots than Punks!)
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To: bray
"And yes we will pick up some seats as I predicted last election."

With all due respect to believe the GOP can actually "pick up seats" is not facing reality.

The LSM has been hammering on the Republicans unrelentingly and it has had an obvious effect.

I am convinced we can maintain control of both houses if we come out in force, low voter turnout is always expected during the years of a non Presidential election.
The key is in projecting the importance that every vote (From your base) is needed.

111 posted on 10/14/2006 7:11:02 AM PDT by #1CTYankee (That's right, I have no proof. So what of it??)
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To: kellynla
"I doubt they would want to impeach GWB just to make Dick Cheney POTUS"

- I don't think that's their game plan. Yes, they will talk a lot about impeachment, hold hearings, subpoena witnesses, get the MSM in full throated blood lust mode and drag it out to the early fall of 2008.
During that time they will paralyze the Presidents ability to deal with Iraq, Iran and North Korea and put the domestic economy into stall mode. Bush's numbers will continue to slide and their plan will all come to fruition when Hitlery holds out her promise of restoring dignity and glory to the Presidency in November 2008.
That's the game plan and the only thing that could derail it between now and then is if Hitlery were to be caught in bed with Ellen Degenerate - and I don't think she's that stupid.
112 posted on 10/14/2006 7:11:43 AM PDT by finnigan2
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To: #1CTYankee

Guess I'm just not as smart as you. We will pick up seats due to our turnout.

Pray for W and Our Troops


113 posted on 10/14/2006 7:15:31 AM PDT by bray (Voting for the Rats is a Death Wish)
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To: finnigan2

"drag it out to the early fall of 2008."

Exactly!

I was being facetious about the 'Rats impeaching GWB and getting Cheney but no one caught it. There wouldn't be enough votes in the Senate to begin with.


114 posted on 10/14/2006 7:17:16 AM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: freespirited

You have a very short memory. There were many on here predicting the end of the world last election. Course they were the smart ones who could really interpret the phony polls.

Pray for W and Our Troops


115 posted on 10/14/2006 7:19:16 AM PDT by bray (Voting for the Rats is a Death Wish)
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To: bray
Guess I'm just not as smart as you. We will pick up seats due to our turnout.

Hope your right.

"Pray for W and Our Troops."

Count on it.

116 posted on 10/14/2006 7:21:33 AM PDT by #1CTYankee (That's right, I have no proof. So what of it??)
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To: johnny7
The only chance Democrats have of winning the House and Senate is to convince voters that they have a chance of winning the House and Senate.

The Democrat socialist agenda has not changed. Democrat candidates dare not even talk about issues. They must continue a brainwashing campaign of personal attacks against their opponents.

But I believe, unlike Fred Barnes, that the economy that is the best in decades; unemployment that is as full as it can get; and the war on terrorism being fought by Republicans while Democrats help the terrorists, will be the determining factors.

Immigration and spending are the only vulnerabilities of the Republicans.

As far as immigration is concerned, at least Republicans want to build a fence while Democrats want to completely open the borders.

As for spending, are we supposed to believe that Bush's excessive spending will be lowered by Democrats? I don't think so. The essence of Democrat/Socialism is to spend everything workers earn.
117 posted on 10/14/2006 7:22:42 AM PDT by R.W.Ratikal
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To: Beagle8U

"......under siege by a rat congress......"

should read ".....coping with democrats who do not believe in U.S. soverignty, who hold U.S. soldiers in low esteem, who wish to see disaster, who want to meld the U.S. population into the internationalist order, who have declared war on the U.S., but who deny duplicity and complicity in the underhanded dealings..."

(heavens to betsy.....i love to hate them; they're so nauseating)


118 posted on 10/14/2006 7:38:09 AM PDT by ripley
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To: johnny7
If you have lousy short term memory then I can understand why you think the republicans are in trouble.

If you think the republicans are in trouble because of poll data you need some ginkgo biloba or something because your memory is failing you.

If you disagree with this then tell me ONE time where the polls weren't predicting a better demoratic result than what happened.

I've been surprised for years that any conservative pays any attention to these so called polls.

The guys who report the weather have a better track record.

119 posted on 10/14/2006 7:45:27 AM PDT by Do Be (The heart is smarter than the head.)
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To: jmaroneps37
We have the best economy in our lifetimes- Dow at all time highs, and 401Ks are glowing again. Gas is down and we have not been attacked in 5 years.

In the end, all politics IS local, and most incumbents will win. I predict we hold by 3. It could go the other way, and Nancy may have a plurality of 1-2. But she would be tearing her hair out trying to keep it together. With 435 members. people get sick and die. The majority could flip often if we were in a situation like that. Not exactly a win for Pelosi. More like a nightmare.

120 posted on 10/14/2006 7:50:10 AM PDT by ExtremeUnction
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