A Democratic Sweep -- and then what?

San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | October 22, 2006 | Robert J. Caldwell

[kellynla]

The conventional wisdom (how often does it prove wrong?) is that the 2006 midterm elections will be 1994 in reverse. The Republican tsunami of that year will be replicated this year by a Democratic wave that will wrest control of the House of Representatives and perhaps the Senate, too, from the GOP.

That may happen. Certainly the polls suggest a dismal night Nov. 7 for the Republicans.

And yet, there is one especially startling difference between the 1994 GOP blowout and the apparently pending Democratic sweep this year.

In 1994, Republicans nationalized the midterm congressional elections by uniting around a national agenda, Newt Gingrich's Contract With America, endorsed by 370 Republican congressional candidates. In stark contrast, the Democrats this year have no agreed-upon national agenda.

The Democrats' strategy, to the extent they have one, is to make the 2006 midterms a referendum on an unpopular president and an unpopular war. That may be enough to get them elected, but then what?

Here is where the 1994 analogy breaks down completely. Gingrich and the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate went on to pull Bill Clinton's erratic presidency back toward the center from its liberal excesses of 1993-94. Welfare reform, spending restraint, and a balanced-budget compact followed by successive years of budget surpluses were all products of the Gingrich revolution in Congress.

[DarthVader]

You forgot #8. Another terrorist attack on US soil and the outbreak of Civil War II.

[maine-iac7]

A Democrat victory in November will mean a defeat for democracy in Iraq.

and in the U.S.

[maine-iac7]

The only scheduled time the media takes a breather from the likes of "global warming"

well, Rove did deliver them a set back by turning off his hurricane machine this year...

[EGPWS]

well, Rove did deliver them a set back by turning off his hurricane machine this year...

Snicker

[EGPWS]

Thanks for the Memories....george76!

[maine-iac7]

Maybe next time the Republicans take power they will actually clean it up.

Read carefully -

If the democrat/Socialists regain power, there will not BE a "next time" for the Republicans in power. Take off the blinders.

The first thing they will implement is to abolish the Electoral College. This is not a theory or an assumption. This is their stated goal = out loud in public.

This will, as they know, nullify the red state votes. Without them, they would've won in 2000 and 2004. Without the Electoral College to protect red stater's vote, they will hold power for our lifetimes and if we're lucky, maybe, when our grandchildren are grandparents, they will be shelved again/

But that is doubtful. We will have been put into the hands of the UN and One World Gov't within the first 2=4 years of dem control. Believe it. A vote for republicans this year is no less than a vote for our freedoms = and we will live to then iron out the other problems.

A non vote is the same as a vote for the socialists = and will the last time your vote will count - or be counted. (Time for some folk to dismount their high horses.)

It's that simple.

[Texas Songwriter]

Have you looked at the lineup the dems will be lead by...Pelosi, Conyers, Rangel, Frank, nostrilitus, and the rest are just as bad. If you cannotl vote republican, vote against this leacherous bunch of America-hating democrats. These people are the antithesis of what America stands for.

[Arkinsaw]

Read carefully -

If the democrat/Socialists regain power, there will not BE a "next time" for the Republicans in power. Take off the blinders.

The first thing they will implement is to abolish the Electoral College. This is not a theory or an assumption. This is their stated goal = out loud in public.

This will, as they know, nullify the red state votes. Without them, they would've won in 2000 and 2004. Without the Electoral College to protect red stater's vote, they will hold power for our lifetimes and if we're lucky, maybe, when our grandchildren are grandparents, they will be shelved again/

But that is doubtful. We will have been put into the hands of the UN and One World Gov't within the first 2=4 years of dem control. Believe it. A vote for republicans this year is no less than a vote for our freedoms = and we will live to then iron out the other problems.

A non vote is the same as a vote for the socialists = and will the last time your vote will count - or be counted. (Time for some folk to dismount their high horses.)

It's that simple.

You post as if I want Democrats to take power or something. I promise you that you have a firm Republican vote here. I hope that my vote turns the tide.

But the fact is that Republicans have placed themselves on the razor edge of losing power and my vote might not be enough.

If that happens, do we give up? Oh well, there will not be a "next time" now. We are doomed....doomed....DOOMED...I tell ya.

You say they will do all sorts of stuff. Yeah, they will. But the fact is that the things they do have actual messy results. Their philosophies are wrong and the results of them are bad. They will be recognizably bad. The things they do will be a mess.

You seem to think that if they get a couple of seat majority they will do away with the electoral college. Small states might have something to say about that when it actually comes down to their legislatures voting away power to the urban centers. It will be a big messy fight that is clearly aimed at seizing political power. Americans don't like changing the rules in the middle of the game.

The UN? They cannot even tie their own shoes. If a Democratic Congress voted to turn us over to the UN....it would not stand.

The Democrats will go nutso if they do gain power. Gay marriage, electoral college, Hillarycare, free money, higher taxes....it would be an orgy of fun for them. And they will lose on all of it.....or if they win on them it will fail because they are bad policy that cannot work.

Republicans are not doomed if they do end up losing control, and the country is not doomed. The reason is because the Democrats are flat-out nuts. Clown-size nuts. They have no self-limits....they think all of America wants their extremes and are simply oppressed and repressed. They will gleefully trot out their most extreme positions and be shocked....shocked....at the level of outrage.

I hope it doesn't come to that. But if it does....no doom.

[loveliberty2]

""A Democratic Sweep -- and then what?"

1) Absolute refusal to confirm even one more judge who does not go along with the Far Left's liberal views.

2) Absolute commitment to more liberal abortion laws.

These two certainties (if the Democrats should sweep) should be enough to prod even the most recalcitrant conservative voter to the polls!

[RavenATB]

I wish I could strangle media morons who use the word "democratic" when referring to Democrats.

It's not the democratic party, it's the DEMOCRAT party.

Democratic is a process. Democrat is a lying moron.

Know the difference.

[curiosity]

Then what? Mass amnesty for illegal aliens, that's what. The only thing stopping this disaster is the GOP House. We lose it, and Ted Kennedy will have his way on immigration policy.

[Grampa Dave]

Many Rinos voted for Perot to punish Bush 41... then we got Clinton ! it is a bad idea to let this happen again. IMO

THE ABOVE MASS MURDER OF THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT AMERICANS WAS THE INHERITANCE OF 8 YEARS UNDER THE CLINTOONS.

[LibertarianInExile]

"Yawn more cheerleading for the democrats."

BTTT. It's so rare we concur, I have to say it twice: BTTT.

The constant barrage of 'we're gonna win' b.s. from the Rats and the MSM is starting to annoy me. I don't necessarily CARE if the GOP loses (after all, if they DON'T, what will their reaction be? 'Ha, we sure put one over on those conservative suckers again'?), but I don't buy these polls. All you have to do is look at John F'in Kerry's office to know these are more slanted b.s., because they try it time and again to depress GOP turnout, and fail and fail and fail.

My money's on the GOP keeping both houses.

[phillyfanatic]

It will not only be those type of hearings. It will deal with regulations, taxes, so called corruption, military funding and on and on. If the Senate goes, it will be no more jurists that W will get through. It will cause a decrease in funding for the war against Islamofascism. In a word, a catastrophe for freedom and victory over our domestic and foreign enemies.

[Atchafalaya]

Don't forget Conyers pet project the reparations thingy. I gag everytime I hear about that asshat.

[JasonC]

Hey you are right. Let's surrender now.